Out of the Dark
by Nocturnal Novelist
Summary: Travis is a human with a positive mindset, taking the problems of others at his own expense. He meets a poochyena and eevee who have different views on the world. The poochyena hates Travis's guts despite never meeting him, and she decides to make his life a living hell after being led into his home. Was this the worst decision of Travis's life? Rated M for future lemons.
1. Chapter 1: New Faces

**AN: Hey people, Nocturnal Novelist here with a new story. This is a short story, so don't worry about it being long. I wanted something to help get me back into the flow of writing, so for my followers who have waited ages for the next CFAW or THT update, I'm deeply sorry but hey. At least I'm not dead.**

 **Just a fair warning, this story has poképhilia, lemons towards the ending, and some fluff in the later chapters. If that's not your cup of tea and you're just here to read the story then that's fine, I'll give you guys a warning when the lemons come. Also expect other suggestive content. If you can't stand the stuff, then don't read.**

 **Pokémon do NOT have speech barriers when talking with humans for this story, but can speak in their native tongue when desired. Just thought I'd tell you.**

 **Disclaimer: GameFreak and the people at Nintendo own Pokémon, you guys should know the basics by now. I just own my characters.**

 **Let the story begin!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

"...In other news, we are very joyful to announce that the mysterious disappearances of the wild and domesticated pokémon near Goldenrod City have finally been solved, but the story behind it is a rather…distasteful one..." a male voice spoke through the BuzzNav.

The person who watched the news bulletin cracked open a soda, only taking a tiny sip as his eyes remained glued to the screen of his PokéNav.

"As it turns out, there was a brothel running just on the outskirts of the city, near the region's pokémon daycare…" he continued, seeming to slowly lose his composure as he spoke, which was clear through the frequent breaths he took between words.

"...Thanks to tips from passerby as well as distressed pokémon from the area, Goldenrod authorities were able to quickly locate these thugs and take them all down. Poor, defenseless pokémon were found inside, strapped to beds, muzzled or chained, and most badly injured. Up to eight men are now under arrest and are being held in the city's jail with no bond, under the charges of rape, pokémon abuse, and other charges. They will possibly face jail time of up to forty years to life," he continued, before slamming his fist to the desk, sending his papers flying all across the room while causing the desk to crack.

"Let me tell you why that's bull shit! Those bastards should fucking get killed, have their throats ripped out!" he roared, slamming his foot down on the desk before being tackled by what viewers would assume were security. If not for the news, most viewers might have found it a little comedic.

It didn't take long for another person to take the man's place, it was a young woman. A nerve wracked smiled forced her lips to tug at her cheeks. "Well, at least the pokémon finally got their right to freedom, like we all should deserve. Some went to pokémon centers across the region for treatment, while others returned to their own homes, whether it be in the wild or back in the city. We'll keep you updated on the-"

The viewer closed his PokéNav before the woman could finish her sentence. Pocketing the device, he slipped his empty soda can in the side pocket of his backpack, having finishing it long ago when the anchor man was having his episode.

This young man's name was Travis, a teenager who was not thrilled with what he had just heard.

"That's just wrong, who could do that to pokémon? To anyone really," the boy thought out loud as he looked up to the sky as he followed the trail back to his hometown.

Taking a look at his surroundings, Travis could see that Route 38 was as peaceful as ever, which is what made it his favorite place to just walk. Even if Route 38 and 39 were a four to five-hour walk, it always soothed Travis to walk here. Seeing the friendly miltank that knew his face quite well gave him happiness every time they would wave and give a hello while keeping the local tauros in check, which made him chuckle.

Magnemite hovered through the air as if riding the wind. Rattata lurked in the thick trees above while the more rare pokémon like shinx, plusle, and minun rushed through the tall grass in the distance.

Pokémon; Known by many as man's best friend, but too often seen as nothing more than tools and stepping stones for humans. Travis found disgust in the thought of raping a pokémon just because someone was acting off of a weird fetish they had.

Truth be told, though the league once fought against it with their own cause and great effort, poképhilia eventually became legal in Johto. As long as the pokémon gave the consent for anything, that's all that mattered. There have been many cases of a pokémon falling in love with a human and vice versa, and their love was strong and true.

This never bothered Travis personally, having never thought of the idea of loving a pokémon that way, mainly because he didn't have a pokémon of his own, and love was something he just didn't need other than from his mother.

Travis kept traveling, step by step until he would reach Olivine City, his home which was still a good while away. He wanted to push past that news since it all was over, but he couldn't help but wonder about the pokémon left to roam the wild. With the great surplus of pokémon from Sinnoh, Hoenn, and even Alola, it would be difficult for most to find the necessities that they need to ensure their survival.

Giving a brief sigh, Travis quickly brought a smile to his face. He knew he had to keep hope in dark times, and it was because of his optimistic nature that he was able to see a light through the darkness.

"Hey, there's the farm!" Travis exclaimed to nobody in particular as a small structure in the distance caught his attention. This farm marked the midway point of Route 38 and 39, meaning he was only a few hours from home.

Taking a look up to the sky, the teen realized dusk was going to take over soon. "Nothing wrong with setting up camp later."

* * *

"Ugh! Again!? Those fucking brutes always take all the berries!" following after those words was a swift stomp of the creatures black paw to the innocent ground beneath it, sending some blades of grass flying a few inches.

The poochyena's violet eyes were quick to ignite with rage as she continuously complained. An eevee with a nearly sparkling white-hazel coat stood beside her, rolling her eyes as she watched the poochyena childishly pout but understood her frustration. Time had been a very cruel mistress.

The local farm on Route 39 had a lot of berries growing on the many trees of the ranch. After an incident where one of their livestock became ill and a boy named Ethan spent a good chunk of his journey in search of healing berries, the owners decided to start their own berry harvest. Needless to say this went exceptionally well, to the point where they had enough berries to feed their own pokémon as well as the pokémon in the wild when they need a meal. Some pokémon were very grateful for the kind humans efforts, while others liked to take advantage of this and take more than what they needed. This left an unlucky few with barely anything.

"Just when we think the worst of our problems are through, we're faced with another. Why must it be this way, Everest?" the poochyena sighed, turning her head towards the eevee now known as Everest.

Everest saw the genuine sadness in the poochyena's eyes through what was once anger. The eevee's ears went limp against the sides of her head when she saw the pooch like this. She desperately wanted to show her that there could have been something better than this, if only she would use her heart to see it.

"I wish I knew, Zia. Things might-"

"You always say that, but when will things actually get better for us?" Zia, the poochyena, told Everest after interrupting her.

The eevee sighed, wanting the pooch to try to see things on a brighter side. _Someday that stubbornness might just make her do something she'll regret._

The two of them scouted Route 39, hoping that they could find something to scavenge until the berries would grow again the next day.

"Hm?" Everest lifted her head and looked at her surroundings, catching Zia's attention.

"What?" asked Zia.

"Don't you hear it? The footsteps." Everest answered. Paying close heed to what her ears messaged, Zia caught the sound as well.

"Yeah," the pooch said before her nose began to twitch. "I smell berries with it." she confirmed before she started to growl. "If it's those thieves, I'll-"

"Shh!" Everest hushed the pooch before taking cover into the nearby bushes, Zia quickly caught on and hid with her. "Let's see who it is first."

Zia would have protested, but she decided to keep it to herself this time, putting her trust in Everest.

Through the thick brush of the bushes, the two could see a single pair of feet stroll pass them, these feet being covered by what was obviously sneakers. "Damn, it's even worse, a human." growled Zia before Everest pushed her paw to her black muzzle to hush her up. She didn't want to go through it again with her now.

It didn't take long for Zia to pull her face away from the eevee's little paw before she continued to stare daggers at the human, who whistled as he minded his own business. "He definitely has the smell of berries on him, but I don't see anything." Zia groaned.

"The pack on his back, maybe there?" Everest asked. It definitely did make sense, the scent being strong enough to conclude that he definitely did have fresh berries somewhere.

"You're right!" Zia exclaimed in a whisper, her nose twitching like mad. Her nose definitely knew better out of the two. While Everest may have had better hearing, Zia's nose was the first to pick up just about any scent, and scents of multiple types of berries threatened to make the pooch go mad with hunger if she didn't do something about it soon.

"He must be on a long trip." concluded Everest as she rubbed her chin in thought. "That pack is pretty big, so it can fit tons of stuff."

"Let's take the bag." Zia suggested with a sinister grin, causing Everest to whip her head toward her direction with a disappointed glare following soon after.

"We are not stealing berries from anyone if that's what you're implying, Zia. We know better than to steal, especially berries from humans when they farm them themselves." Everest retorted while keeping her glare.

Zia gave Everest the most dumbfounded, yet agitated face it was possible for the pooch to muster. "What do you mean!? I can't believe you would even still consider being so polite to a human after what they've done!" Zia spoke, giving a glare of her own at Everest. The eevee took another sigh.

"Yes, Zia, I know you are still mad about what they did but we have no need to steal things that don't belong to us just because of a few humans out of the millions of others in this world. Learn to give some faith in me sometimes." Everest told Zia, causing the pooch to roll her eyes.

"Okay then, what does _the great Everest_ suggest we do then. Just sit here and starve?" Zia teased.

"I could tell you without sarcasm that we just go and ask nicely. Don't worry, we'll be cautious, scaredy pooch." Everest told her with a grin before trotting off.

"Knock it off!" barked Zia with a flustered face before following behind.

* * *

 _ **FWOOMP**_

Thanks to a few pieces of flint and some nearby twigs, Travis was able to start a small campfire that crackled merrily, casting the nearby scenery in a breathtaking orange glow.

"Heh, perfect." Travis told himself with a smile. The moon finally claimed the skies not long ago, and the stars helped out by giving travelers their beautiful illumination. Seemed like the perfect night.

Travis went into his backpack before he would whip out a sleeping bag suitable for his size with a little extra room to spare.

Though he was no traveller, Travis wasn't foreign when it came to camping and walking for long periods of time. If he wanted to, he could have walked the entire five hours back home, but camping was always fun even if he was by himself.

"Time for lunch." the boy told himself as he brought out a bag full of berries, each being able to take up the size of his palm. He had a bunch, due to his visit in Ecruteak City where his grandparents lived. They insisted that he should bring some for the trip back after learning he walked there with nothing but a peanut butter sandwich.

Travis's eyes sparkled with delight as he took out a pecha berry. In one swift motion, he took a huge bite. The boy almost squeaked as the sweetness of the pecha berry immediately assaulted his taste buds with pure bliss.

While Travis was busy enjoying his berry, he had no suspicion of the fact that two pokémon were watching him…

"I really don't like these ideas of yours, Everest." Zia whispered to the white-hazel eevee next to her. The two pokémon watched Travis from the shelter of the nearby bushes.

"Too bad, because we're not stealing his food. We don't know what kind of person he is, so if he's mean, maybe we'll steal them. Though it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Everest told Zia, who proceeded to roll her eyes as her reply once again.

Seeing that the poochyena wasn't going to comply with her easily, Everest decided to make her move.

As Travis became set on munching another berry, a brief rustle of the nearby bushes quickly caught his attention instead.

His head whipped towards the source of the intruding noise, where he could see the bush lightly shake as someone pushed through. Or as he would find out... _something_.

A white-hazel paw would first appear from those bushes, before the rest of its body would be brought to the revealing light that the campfire gave.

 _Is that a...?_ Travis thought as his eyes met quite the rare sight. A shiny eevee, it's fur giving of its own dazzling gleam. It was already nearly impossible to find an eevee in Johto, but to find a shiny in a place like this? Most pokémon trainers would jump the eevee immediately. Travis on the other hand, decided to watch it, curious as to why it would approach him.

The eevee was quiet as it eyed Travis from a safe ten feet while Travis returned a look that showed just as much curiosity. Why wouldn't it say anything? Why was it just analyzing him the way it was? Most wild eevee were usually timid of humans, but she seemed more intrigued than anything, though still cautious.

Travis thought about what it could have wanted until he eyed his stash of berries next to him. "Oh, I get it. You're hungry right?" he asked, making the eevee's ears perk up with interest.

The eevee watched him as he pulled out another berry, this time being a sitrus berry. Her mouth almost watered at the sight and her tail lightly swished from side to side. Would he really give it to her?

"You can catch, right?" Travis then asked, which made the eevee cock her head a bit. This made the boy chuckle.

"Yes?" it answered with uncertainty. Its voice had a soothing, feminine tone, something Travis wasn't expecting to hear. For the moment, he decided to ignore it.

"It'd be a bit rude to just roll it on the ground to you where it would get dirty, so I rather have you catch it. I understand you don't wanna get too close." explained Travis before tossing the berry over to the eevee, who quickly reacted by pouncing into the air and catching it in her little paws.

"Woot woot!" Travis praised, making the eevee giggle before showing him a triumphant grin.

Meanwhile, a sneaky poochyena was still in that same bush where the eevee once was, groaning to herself. "How is she just able to trust him so easily, he's going to try something. He has to, every other human would try." the poochyena whispered to herself as she glared at the scene.

"Thank you. You seem like a nice human. Smart too." the eevee complimented with a grin before Travis waved her off.

"Nah, don't mention it. I got plenty to share if ya need more." Travis told her.

The eevee nodded before turning to the same bush that she appeared from, immediately catching Travis's attention. "You better come on out if you want any, Zia."

 _Another pokémon? What could it be?_

Before Travis could ponder his thoughts too much longer, another rustle in the bushes snapped him out of it. This time, a black paw and black muzzle stuck out of the thick brush. It's wet red nose made Travis figure out right away that this didn't seem like any normal Johto native.

Soon, his burning question answered itself, the answer once again leaving him amazed, more than just finding another eevee. Due to a near catastrophe in Hoenn, many pokémon have migrated over to other regions, and vice versa. Since they were only known to migrate to Kanto and Sinnoh, he never expected to find a _poochyena_ here.

Said poochyena wore a frown on her face, staring daggers at the young man as she threatened to bare her fangs, causing Travis to give a nervous chuckle.

"Heh, why the long face?" he asked. The poochyena didn't give a response other than a warning growl that told him to keep away from her. If it wasn't for the fact that this little pooch was somewhat adorable to him, he would've been intimidated due to the large fangs that protruded from her lips.

The eevee rolled her eyes at how the poochyena introduced herself before she turned to Travis, ears slightly lowering. "Sorry about her, she has an attitude problem." she told him, the poochyena turning away from the human as her retort but still keeping her violet eyes on him, something Travis took into account right away.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. I think I understand." Travis reassured, soon taking another berry from his collection. This time it was a pinap berry.

Though it was only for a moment, Travis and the eevee both could see the sparkle in the poochyena's eyes as she quickly eyed the pinap berry before going back to glaring at him.

"Ooh, that's her favorite!" the eevee chipped in, causing her comrade to slightly blush at her business being thrown out there for this human to know. Travis smiled.

"Hey, you can catch too, right?" Travis called out to the poochyena, getting the idea she didn't trust him in the slightest. She didn't say anything. _Is she hesitating?_

"You can toss it to me and I'll-"

"I can catch for myself!" the poochyena shouted, swiftly cutting the eevee's sentence. "Throw it, human." she commanded.

Travis shrugged it off. "Okay, here it comes." Travis warned before tossing the berry over to the poochyena, who prepared herself for a catch.

Travis and the eevee both watched as the poochyena jumped to the berry once it was near her. She would have a perfect catch just like the eevee, if she timed her jump correctly.

Travis winced the moment the berry smacked the top of the pooch's head, sending her with a thump towards the ground, the berry soon rolling down her ash gray fur.

There was nothing but dead silence before the eevee started to burst out with laughter, so much to where she had to roll on her back and hold her stomach. "You're so funny!" she teased, though Travis could tell there wasn't any hostility in her reaction.

"S-Shut up okay?" barked the poochyena with her face burning red with embarrassment before she quickly whipped her body around so her back was facing the two. "Don't you dare laugh, human." she spoke to Travis, cheeks still sporting a heavy blush before she started to eat the berry in relative silence.

Travis wanted to laugh as well, but he felt he shouldn't, given that the poochyena's pride shattered through that act, so he stuck with just a reassuring smile.

The eevee turned her attention to him once again, a warm smile on her face. "I want to thank you properly, uh…"

"Travis, and like I said, don't mention it." said Travis before following with a laugh. The eevee gave him a reassuring smile, showing him how grateful she truly was.

"So, you have names as well?" Travis asked, taking out another berry and joining the feast between the three. The eevee smiled, intrigued and happy that he cared enough to ask and stepped a little closer to him.

"My name's Everest, and this lovely girl..." the eevee named Everest teased, while the poochyena glared at her. _Don't you dare give this human my name._

As if able to read her thoughts, Everest stuck her tongue out at her before continuing. "...is my little sister, Zia." she answered, making the poochyena want to bark curses at her but she quickly gobbled down her berry to calm her down. The sour yet somewhat sweet taste of a pinap berry was always enough to soothe her nerves, at least that's what she used to think.

Being near this human put Zia on edge, more than she hoped. He didn't even feel threatened by her presence. Why?

"You're sisters? Was your mother a vaporeon?" Travis asked, causing Everest's ears to perk up while Zia whipped her head around to face him. "I take it as a yes?" he continued with a chuckle.

"How did you know?" Everest asked, amazed by his quick conclusion, and as much as Zia did not want to admit it, she was surprised from his correct answer as well.

"Well, I know baby pokémon take most of their traits from their mother, and most of the time are born the same species as the mother." Travis began. "Everest, you seem to be very calm and mellow with a lot of stamina, like most vaporeon. Zia on the other hand has an eye color similar to vaporeon, too dark to have come from an espeon." he concluded with a shrug.

Zia turned away from Travis once again. _My eyes? Why was he looking at my eyes? The creep._

Though she tried to hide it, Everest could clearly see the red tint of her cheeks. It earned a raised eyebrow, but she focused her attention back on Travis.

"That's pretty smart of you to figure that out," Everest complimented as Travis laughed it off. "By the way, mind if we have another berry?"

"Don't mind at all, here." Travis said, taking two more berries out of the bag before tossing the entire stash over to her and Zia, which was easier to do since she was a little closer. This was something that Everest didn't expect to happen.

Zia heard the bag of berries thump against the ground as well, but she didn't look back. _He's planning something, my instincts are screaming it._

Travis could see the now shocked expression the eevee gave him that demanded an explanation. The dude chuckled before taking a bite out of another of his last berries.

"I know this place is harsh sometimes. With all the new pokémon roaming about it can hard to get anything for yourself, like food or shelter. That's the main reason I took that bag of berries with me, so I could help others in need. If not, I would have left it at my grandparents' place." Travis said with a smile. "Food, medicine, whatever. You could never be too careful, that's what my mom always says anyway."

"That's a good thing, the two of us would probably starve if it weren't for you. Right?" Everest said before turning to Zia, who still wasn't going to fully acknowledge the human.

"Hey now, no problem. You two should start heading back home, wouldn't want anyone taking what's yours, right?" joked Travis. Everest smirked.

"Yeah, I happened to tell someone the same thing earlier today." Everest said, still grinning at Zia. "But you're right. It was certainly nice meeting you, Travis."

The eevee grabbed the bag of berries by her maw and began to pull it back towards the way she came, giving one last look to Travis before continuing. Zia, seeing that her sister needed her help, also went to grab the bag of berries, glaring at Travis for a slight moment.

Though this did somewhat concern Travis, he didn't really seem to mind her distaste for humans, as it was probably with reason. Helping out was something he did because he obligated himself to, and that meant helping everyone, even if they didn't appreciate it.

Travis gave a wave to the two as he said his goodbye, not expecting to see the pair again. "See ya, be safe out there! If you need anything, I'll be in Olivine City!" Travis called.

Travis couldn't hear it, but Everest gave a muffled yet sincere thanks while Zia grumbled something inaudible under her breath. Why did her sister constantly insist that they, _she_ , needed help from this low down human? She didn't know the answer, and sure wouldn't expect that she would find out in the future…

* * *

Travis continued to stare at the fire, thinking about the events that passed tonight. He felt bad for the two pokémon, knowing they had no sure way of survival out here. Even with Zia's bad attitude, he would have loved to offer them a home, but that was the past now and it was very unlikely to run into the same pokémon twice unless they were frequent passerby or natives. _Too little, too late._

After taking a few seconds for a yawn, Travis scooped up some nearby dirt before dumping it all on the fire. A hiss made its way through the clumps of dirt as the once campfire was now turned to wavering smoke and ash. Like any experienced camper, Travis made sure to stomp the ashes before he would retreat to his sleeping bag for the night.

The boy looked up to the moon, folding his arms back so his head could rest on his hands before going into deep thought. _Life is pretty cruel, but I hope if anything, those two will be alright. They're nice pokémon, and I can tell Everest does work hard to look after her sister. I hope she could make Zia see that not every human wants to hurt her…_

Travis's thoughts began to slowly drift away as if carried away by the cool breeze that came that night. The boy's world was going black as he started to drift into a deep sleep, hoping that his selfless wish would come true...


	2. Chapter 2: E for Emergency

**Chapter 2**

"Damn it, Zia! You need help, and there is no way I will leave you to bleed to death out here!" Everest yelled at her sister as she dragged her sister through the depths of Route 39 in search of what she knew they both needed. More accurately, _whom_ they both needed.

Drops of thick, dark red blood marked the trail behind them, coming much more from Zia than Everest. The eevee only had a couple of scrapes and wounds that shed her blood and matted her once clean, hazel coat. However, that was nothing when comparing to how Zia was currently faring. The poochyena had a huge gash on her hip with several large cuts that dug into her sides and stomach, as well as her thighs, the blood that she shed matting her fur much worse than Everest's own. Her black fur was clumped with blood, but luckily Everest had made decent use of a caterpie's web to temporarily bandage her wounds. Everest had the natural skill of thinking on her feet, but she knew better than to think that this would be enough. They needed serious medical attention.

"No way, I rather…" Zia let out a harsh cough between cold words, spitting more of her blood on the grass that was under their feet. "...die than let you do that. Not...a chance in hell. I'm okay…"

Zia's breaths were rough and labored. On top of that, she was barely able to walk on her own without using her sister as a crutch. She used what little strength she had to try breaking free from Everest's hold on her, but her sister was having none of her bullshit.

Though hurt a bit herself, Everest strained herself into using her energy to hold her sister down while dragging both her and herself through the thick grass, with Zia not being able to put up much of a fight. Everest wasn't certain that this idea of hers would work nor what would come of it. With the home of the farm now too far away, the eevee knew that _he_ was their best chance of making Zia survive.

* * *

Travis was back on the road the morning after meeting Everest and Zia, humming a familiar tune that was stuck in his head from childhood as he stepped to the beat. The sun had long returned to greet Johto with its warm rays. As pleasant as it was, this warned Travis that he had slept longer than he originally planned, but it didn't bother him too much.

 _Almost home…_ Travis thought to himself as little squares in the distance started to come into view, meaning that he would soon reach the city of Olivine. His home.

Speaking of home, Travis knew that his mother was probably beginning to wonder where he is by now, since he didn't mention to anyone about him camping out last night. He was an outside person by nature with the ability to walk for long periods of time with little rest, especially at dusk and night. If anything, his mother would probably just chuckle about it since it was to be expected. Nonetheless, the young man couldn't wait to get home, though he was glad to have woken up late enough to see Route 39 casted in the shimmering sunlight. Nature could look different to anyone depending on their perspective, and Travis was a person who wanted to take in all of the details…

"Just a few minutes before- Huh?" said Travis before he stopped walking and looked around, swearing that someone had just called his name. Without another sign, Travis decided to shrug off the feeling and continue walking until-

"Travis!" someone called with a muffled voice, making Travis stop before looking around once again. Someone had _definitely_ called his name, and he could see who it was too. He had a small smile on his face. "Oh, it's you guys. What's…"

Travis cut his sentence short when two pokemon who were once far behind him now were within a couple of feet of him. One was slightly bruised with a few minor cuts, but the other was in much worse shape, passed out from the blood loss that she was suffering. The sight of Everest and Zia being so hurt made Travis sick to his stomach.

"Holy shit, what the hell happened!?" demanded Travis in shock, which made Everest flinch from his sudden change in tone. Seeing that he scared his new friend, Travis calmed down a little and tried not to be too harsh with his next words. "Sorry, I'm just really worried. What happened to you two?"

"It's too long of a story right now!" Everest shouted, too concerned for her sister's well being rather than recalling the details. "You said that you had medicine right? We need it, please!" she pleaded, nearly going into tears before Travis sighed.

"Well...normal medicine wouldn't help with cuts like that. I got no potions, so the only thing I can do right now is bandage her up, but she needs to checked into a pokemon center…" Travis told Everest before pointing to the fainted Zia, secretly really impressed that Everest thought of bandaging her sister with a string shot, which was now starting to be colored with Zia's blood. "She's lost way too much blood already…"

Though a generally laid back and nice person, Travis had issues when paying attention to certain details when in a rush. He wished that he wasn't in so much of a hurry to get on that walk back here to remember to stop by the pokemart for supplies. A hyper potion would do much more justice than bandages in most cases, and definitely more than the string of web wrapped around Zia's body. Knowing this, Travis cursed himself for his mistake, but it was too late for regrets now. If he didn't do anything for Zia, she would surely die, and he didn't want that to happen.

Everest was somewhat worried with the idea of being sent to a pokemon center, but she knew it was what her and Zia needed, and while she liked Travis, she would certainly trust the people who get paid for the job and remember their supplies over him. "O...Okay I guess, but don't keep us there, okay?" asked Everest.

"You've got my word." Travis confirmed before pulling his bag off of his back and fumbling through its contents. Everest crooked her head slightly, curious of what the young man was doing before he suddenly pulled out a pokeball, covered completely with red with a white 'E' on the upper half. Everest's eyes shot open the moment Travis pressed the button on the ball after aiming it at her sister. Zia's form soon was covered in a red light before she phased into the ball like magic. Neither ding or shake came from that ball. Did Travis just catch her sister?

"H-Hey, what are you doing!?" Everest shouted, shocked at the sight of the human that she trusted capturing her sister, right in front of her face to add insult to injury. Travis looked toward Everest with the most dull minded expression known to man, not knowing what she was upset about until he caught on a little later than he would have liked.

"Oh shoot." said Travis, slapping his face as Everest fought the urge to snarl and bite his leg off. She wanted an explanation, and her face said that she wanted to hear it _now_. "You see, this is an emergency ball," Travis started to explain. "It's main use is for safely transporting pokemon who need medical attention." Travis explained.

"Okay, but-"

"Let me finish, Everest." Travis said, cutting the eevee off as she bit her lip, trying to have faith in him like she did before. "This ball doesn't have binding properties like a standard pokeball. If you didn't notice, the ball didn't shake or even give that dinging noise pokeballs make when a capture is set in stone. It's limited on time, and after a few hours, she can break free whenever she wants. Trust me, Everest, I wouldn't force you to be my pokemon, haven't had one to my name since I was born. I have no reason to suddenly want to steal one." Travis shrugged, giving the eevee a smile.

Everest was no psychic to say whether or not Travis was lying to her, so she decided to smile back and keep her faith in him. She didn't think Travis would trick her, after all, he could have already done so if he wanted to. "Okay, thank you." she said with a very reassuring smile on her face.

"I've only got the one though," Travis admitted, before giving the ball to Everest, which she held tight to her chest against her huge scruff of white fur. "You can hold her while we run to the pokemon center back in town."

Everest gave a surprised yip when Travis suddenly picked her up around her waist and held her against his chest in the most comfortable way he thought was possible since she was injured as well, the eevee luckily catching on to his plan rather quickly. "Alright, let's go I guess." The eevee slightly slumped in his arms to give her tired limbs a break. Without need to speak, Travis rushed to town as quick as his legs could take him with the additional weight. Town wasn't too far from where they were now, but he wouldn't bother in wasting any time…

* * *

As big as Olivine City was, it wasn't much of a busy city these days. People usually strolled down the streets, taking it easy while having conversations with friends or fishing at sea which was a major pastime for the locals. Sometimes they would be lucky to see sailors wrestling on the beach for their amusement, which was all just in good fun. It certainly wasn't deserted, but the city seemed less busy than usual, with only children and a few adults being out. Travis didn't know what this meant, but he had his own problems to deal with, and that was made clear by how fast he dashed by the streets and buildings before he finally reached the pokemon center without giving a single hello to anyone like he usually did. What would have been a thirty minute casual stroll turned into a sixteen minute dash.

Despite bouncing up and down with each of Travis's quick steps, Everest had still managed to somehow fall asleep within the past few minutes with her ears waving in the breeze. She amazingly still held the pokeball that held her sister with her little paws.

It was thanks to the automatic doors opening a few moments before Travis dashed inside that he didn't slam into them. As soon as he got inside, he walked with a stumble in his steps with the exhausted eevee with a pokeball in her paws. Travis gave a few labored breaths as the few visitors that were there stared at him with pure confusion. Despite that, their attention immediately turned to the shiny eevee that was wrapped in his arms, most of their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets from how hard that they stared. The teen naturally paid them no mind and immediately continued dashing until he got to the counter to where the town's nurse gave him the same look of surprise that everyone else did, but actually concerned that the eevee in Travis' arms was bleeding out with an emergency ball in its paws, possibly containing another pokemon.

The nurse wore a standard white nurse's outfit with a trim of gold around the edges. Likewise to the trims, her hair was golden in color, going down to just below her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes were filled with worry for the injured pokemon, but her details weren't too important. "What happened to your eevee?" the nurse said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible, despite her face showing a frightened and worried expression.

Travis carefully sat Everest down on the counter, whose ear fell over her eye as she continued to snooze, definitely the heavy sleeper of the two, if not both. Along with Everest of course came the emergency ball that Zia was being held in. Travis didn't exactly know how to answer that question, because he didn't know the answer himself. Though there was something he could say.

"I...don't know. I just found two pokemon out of town. The other one," Travis pointed at the emergency ball. "...is in much worse shape. My only guess is they were attacked by another pokemon…" Travis examined the cuts on Everest, with a closer look, he could see that those cuts were actually made by something with big claws that were made for killing. Whatever it was, it definitely got Zia better than it did Everest. The nurse frowned at Travis, but gave him a simple nod.

"Looks like it," she confirmed, though it was already obvious. The nurse gently picked up Everest as well as carefully handling Zia's ball. "I'll be happy to help them, if that's what you need." Travis frowned on the inside, but forced himself to keep a straight face.

 _Are you fucking with me? Of course that's what I need! ….Okay, she's trying to be nice. Don't stress…_ "Uh...yeah, please… Is it alright if I wait on them? I promised to take them back home, sorta.." Travis explained, the nurse giving a nod and a smile.

"Of course," she answered before gesturing over to what Travis assumed to be the waiting room, where very few chairs sat to complement the very little atmosphere…

* * *

Travis sat in the waiting room for what felt like hours. Anticipation and boredom were getting the better of him to the point where he would find himself peeling his fingernails or find his hands and feet fidgeting about for seemingly no reason. Maybe it was just because he cared for the two pokemon more than he should, not even knowing they existed more than a day. Everest was understandable, but he cared a lot for Zia too, even if she tried to pretend that he didn't exist to begin with. Travis had faith that the two canines would be okay, but he feared of what was out there in the wild that he didn't catch eye of before. As far as he knew, hostile pokemon didn't live around the area, much less in Johto in general unless one were looking around the Lake of Rage or Mount Silver. Whatever it was, it was still lurking out there, and it unsettled Travis.

"Travis, I have good news!" the nurse said, walking into the waiting room where Travis whipped his head in her direction, slightly surprised with her sudden appearance due to being too deep in his thoughts to hear her steps. The teenager was soon to catch on though, and he gave a grateful smile as he waited for the good news.

"The eevee and the poochyena are going to pull through just fine. The eevee is awake, and wanted to talk with you. I believe her name was Everest?" the nurse said before Travis nodded and stood up.

"Just lead the way." Travis said before the both of them exited the room.

"Honestly, I have never seen a poochyena here in Johto. They're...a lot less appealing than I thought." the nurse said, making Travis frown. The young man knew that the nurse wasn't trying to be funny or rude, but why would she say something like that? Sure, Travis didn't get too close to her, but he didn't think she was anywhere near ugly. Her large protruding fangs made her stand out from other pokemon, and Travis admired them a little. Zia was far past appealing to him, if anything, he would say she were rather exotic…

* * *

It only took a few minutes for the nurse and Travis to reach another room in the center, where they found two twin size hospital beds in the center of the room only a few feet apart from one another. Each bed had a small canine pokemon, and it was two that Travis was already familiar with. One of them holding Everest, who had woke up not too long before now, and the other one with Zia, who was now peacefully asleep under the soft green blankets with an empty blood bag attached to a pole next to her bed. The nurse left the trio for some privacy and left the room before closing the door behind her. Naturally, Everest gave Travis a warm smile as he walked over to her bed and sat down in a lone chair that happened to be there. The air was cool and nice, but the atmosphere seemed somewhat bleak…

"Hey, Everest. Are ya feeling any better?" Travis asked, and it sure seemed that way. All of Everest's wounds were now properly patched up with bandages and the bruises barely existed anymore. Her snow white hazel fur was well kept again, it was as if nothing happened at all. The shiny eevee nodded to the boy.

"Mhm, I'm still very sore from that strain on my body, but I wasn't too hurt to begin with. I almost feel as good as new." Everest reassured before shuffling in the sheets a little so she could move a little closer to Travis. The young man didn't think too much of this until Everest quickly leaned in toward his face and kissed his cheek, leaving the boy's face a boiling red with no comment. Everest giggled at his reaction before settling back into the sheets, he liked it.

"That's probably the most I can do to thank you, Travis." Everest said with a smile.

"Heh, no problem." Travis said with a poor attempt to hide the break in his voice before he twiddled his thumbs awkwardly in his lap with a nervous grin. He was never considered a ladies man for certain, but he knew he couldn't spend forever on details. He looked over to Zia. The poochyena was curled in a black ball of fluff under the green blankets as she still refused to wake up after the events of earlier today. Admittingly, she was pretty darn adorable, even if she had her back turned toward the two. She was going to be asleep for a long while, but she was going to be okay, which is what counted to Everest and Travis.

The web of the caterpie was finally unwrapped and replaced with a wrap of proper bandages around her torso and her hips. Travis and Everest were both glad to see that her fur was clean and beautiful, with no blood matting it down anymore. Zia would be okay… "How's she holding up by the way?" Travis asked.

"She should be fine, I hope." Everest answered with a defeated sigh. "I'm just glad that she isn't awake. She would certainly throw a fit if she knew where she were right now and what happened while she was asleep." Travis cocked his head at Everest.

"Huh? What did they do?" Travis asked before turning back to look at Zia.

"Nothing bad I think, but the lady did this weird thing where she said she was giving her the blood of a typhlosion…" Everest said, putting a paw to her chin while Travis gave her a rather amused expression as if he were trying to hold back a snicker. "I wonder if she'll be a fire type now…"

"Uh, no. I think you mean blood _transfusion_ …" Travis said, spitting out a chuckle though he tried to keep himself from doing so. Everest blushed and grinned with embarrassment.

"Oh," the eevee said, giggling a little herself.

"The nurse just gave Zia some blood from another pokemon to help her out with all of the blood she already lost. It was donated, and each pokemon and person's blood types are labeled and checked for things like viruses. Zia should be okay." Travis informed the eevee, who nodded before looking over to her sister the same way Travis was doing. Sometimes, Everest wondered just how did she manage to deal with having Zia as a sister, but she could only smile. Zia was the most important thing in the world to her, and she was going to pull through. There was only one question she had…

"Hey, so when do you think you'll be out of here?" Travis asked Everest, taking the eevee out of her personal thoughts before she looked his way. The truth was she was already thinking about the same question.

"I...really don't know. The nurse said that we have to stay here until we get better. Apparently, we can't fend too well for ourselves in this state. I know Zia will be far from happy about being around so many people, and I have to admit that this place gives me a bit of the creeps too...It's too weird here…" Everest said before sighing, Travis going silent. The nurse was actually right, and having that pokemon that did this to them still running around out there would only make it worse if they couldn't escape from a fight. Staying here didn't leave much good options for them either, it was either go out and die, or stay here and possibly cause chaos with Zia, who would probably get hit with tranquilizer darts so much that it scared Travis, and it would only make her view on humans worse. He didn't want her to get...put down neither. Travis wasn't sure if his third option was a good idea, but he damn sure had one, and now was the time to speak.

"Well, it isn't too much better...but I might be able to let you stay at my place until you guys get better." Travis said with a small shrug before Everest nearly bounced out of the green sheets and slammed her tiny paws down onto Travis's shoulders, which didn't hurt him at all. Her tail swished wildly back and forth, up and down behind her.

"You kidding me, Travis!? Better you than a bunch of people that we don't even know! Could you really do that?" asked Everest with a sparkle in her eyes, ecstatic at the offer of a more trustworthy place to stay.

"Well there's no harm in asking, if you guys were already my pokemon, we'd be out of here by now." Travis answered with a laugh before standing up, accidentally bumping noses with Everest who sat back down on the bed with a reassured smile as he left the room to find the nurse, slightly blushing at the fact the two of them touched noses and Everest didn't notice. This would hopefully be a quick conversation…

* * *

As Travis had expected, the conversation with the nurse sure was a quick one, and it was only a few minutes before he walked back into the twin's room to meet back with Everest. Zia was still thankfully asleep while Everest waited for him patiently. "So? What did she say?" Everest asked as Travis took a seat next to her bed like earlier.

"Had to pull a bit of strings but the important thing is that you get to stay with me!" Travis exclaimed in a whisper with a grin on his face before he held his hand up to Everest, who didn't know what to do with it. Everest didn't exactly know how to express how happy she was, but having seen a high five before, she instantly met Travis's hand with her paw.

"This'll be awesome!" Everest cheered in a whisper before looking over to her sister, now slightly frowning. "We just need to get her used to things later in that case…" Travis thought to himself as he looked over to the poochyena. If he knew that anything was for certain, this would probably be the most interesting sleepover that he ever had…

* * *

The last few hours seemed to slowly drag by with Travis signing stacks of paperwork before the nurse finally gave Travis the official okay to take Everest and Zia to his house. Their care was now entirely entrusted to him and he was expected to release them back home once they both were healed, unless he decided to capture them.

Everest, finding it somewhat awkward to lay in Travis's arms again now that she was healed decided to take a much more comfortable position on his head. Having reached full maturity, she was a little bigger and heavier than the average eevee, but Travis didn't seem to mind. Her rear paws sat on his shoulders while her fore paws sat on his head riding piggyback...or piggyneck. It was a rather interesting sight for passerby.

Not wanting to put her in the ball again, Travis carried the sleeping Zia in his arms. He guessed that she wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as she was now if she knew what was going on. She was almost like a baby in his arms, only much bigger and heavier, but with a sleeping face that was oddly just as cute. "You sure this is safe?" Travis asked, fearing that the poochyena would awake in an instant and probably tear off his hands. Sure, she had a cute face, but no other canine pokemon had the intimidating large fangs of a poochyena, and Zia's seemed slightly bigger than average size to boot. It was obvious that she was just as physically mature as Everest.

"Nah, it'll be okay. As long as you're not too close to her once she wakes up that is." Everest joked, only giving Travis more of a reason to speed up his walking so that he could get home and settle her down before she woke up.

"Guess you're right. Oh, by the way, now that you guys are okay, do you mind telling me what happened out there?" Travis asked. Everest sighed as she heard the question, honestly not wanting to relive the memory so soon.

 _Guess it's the least that I can do for him…_ "I'll just keep it short. We were going to get back to our home after you gave us those berries and we met another pokemon who wanted them. He didn't really bother to ask, and just attacked us instead. I wanted to run but Zia insisted on fighting them and got her butt handed to her. That left me to try and outrun him while I had to drag Zia. I was lucky to see just how bad Zia got hurt in that fight and so I came to find you as quick as I could, since the farm was too far by that point…" Everest explained before Travis sighed.

 _Man, Zia is bold, maybe a little too bold for her own good as well as others…_ "Any idea what it was…?" Travis asked, the eevee shaking her head in disagreement, though he wouldn't see that with her riding on his neck.

"I've never seen any pokemon like him." Everest answered. Travis nodded, causing the eevee to bob up and down with his head and making her a little light headed.

"A foreign pokemon then, it's making sense. There isn't anything I know around there that's hostile, especially anything out of control like that unless it were an angry tauros...Whatever the case, your sister sure is brave…" _It's somewhat odd, I heard that poochyena usually knew when a foe was too strong for them. They were one of the smarter pokemon that knew when flight was better than fight…_

Everest giggled. "That's Zia for ya. Sometimes, I wish that she weren't that brave because she gets too stubborn to listen to reason...I told her that this would happen but I can't help but admire her a little. I'm proud to have her as my sister." she said with a shrug.

"Well. Changing the subject. I don't have a problem with you guys staying at my place, but we have to find a way to keep Zia under control when she wakes up. I don't want my mom being bothered by any of this since it's my responsibility. So I need you two to try and behave, though I trust you, Everest…" Travis said, Everest sighing.

"I can't predict how she'll react since we've never found ourselves in this situation before, but I trust you, so know that you can trust me. Zia can't be too much trouble the way that she's injured, so she'll probably tire herself out moment she gets pissed." Everest said with a giggle.

"I just hope that she can come around though. It's gonna be a bad experience for all of us until she tries to trust me. Hopefully, she'll just need a little push, but I can't change her mind on my own..." Travis told Everest, who frowned a little. "I won't have a clue what to do…

* * *

Travis didn't know how right he actually was, and he and Everest were left to stare in utter shock as Zia thrashed her body around the room in an angry fit. It was as if the pain the poochyena felt barely existed as she slammed herself into now cracked wooden dressers, clawed on the indigo painted walls, and bounced across walls like a moth that couldn't find its way to the light. Travis's room wasn't always the cleanest sanctuary on the earth, but now it was a pigsty. The dark green curtains that covered the windows were now torn as Travis sighed in relief that Zia was unable to reach the ceiling fan and destroy that too. Whatever was out in the open was not safe, and that was made painfully clear as the poochyena once again stepped over Travis's shattered Nintendo Wii, which continued to break under her feet and make Travis wince.

Travis made the smart move to put her in his room so she couldn't cause damage to anything else. He found himself mighty spooked when her eyes finally shot open and scanned the room when she woke up. Next thing he knew, this happened, with the only thing Zia yelled was profanities and inaudible screeches. Becoming tired of seeing more of Travis's possessions become trash in her sister's rage, Everest threw herself at her and tackled Zia to the floor and pinned her down. Oddly enough, that was when Zia's exhaustion finally came back full circle and she barely attempted to push Everest off, now her body even more sore and throbbing than ever.

The pooch gave labored breaths as she tried to regain herself, her body going up and down rapidly under Everest's body, which still kept her pinned to the ground where she could do the room no further harm. Travis considered himself lucky that he kept his closet door closed, which would make more of a disaster that he would have to clean up if Zia got to it. It seemed that by now, Zia calmed herself down a little bit, but a little bit wasn't enough to keep her from immediately glaring at Travis, which made him jump.

"You motherfucker! Where have you taken us!? I will make your life a living hell if you-" Zia found herself shutting up when a few glowing stars suddenly smacked her in the face, not powerful enough to really hurt her, but just enough to make her be quiet. Travis, with Zia being under the eevee, was the only one who saw Everest use a swift on her. Zia glared at her sister, though could not bring herself to growl or snarl at her. However, she was absolutely pissed, knowing that Everest let this human touch her to bring her here. She didn't seem to care that she was currently patched up and not bleeding to death anymore, being more concerned about where his filthy hands have been and how long was he touching up on her. He was a damn creep in her eyes, he was human, which meant he didn't care about them, only himself.

"Will you just chill out and listen, you crazy pooch!" Everest hissed, making the poochyena calm herself down just to let her speak. Travis was still left in shock, a hurt poochyena that was near death was still able to cause all of this destruction. It was crazy, not just that fact, but the fact that Travis was thinking that she must have been really strong for a poochyena, and he admired her. Though, admiring her strength was the last thing that he should have been worried about.

"Travis helped the two of us out of that scrap! After you passed out, I went to him and asked him for help and he actually gave us that help! We would have been stuck in the pokemon center in town with a whole bunch of humans you hate if he haven't offered to take us here. Better him than a bunch of other people that haven't done anything for us! If it wasn't for Travis, Zia, you would have died out there!" Everest informed while Zia and Travis had locked eyes with one another during her explanation. It looked like Zia was finally attempting to understand the situation, so Everest stepped off of her where she could finally sit up, still locking eyes with Travis. She didn't look angry nor happy, just a blank stare that unsettled Travis, and concerned Everest. The pooch turned her back to Travis with a huff, sticking her red nose up with pride. She couldn't believe that she stared at that disgusting creature for so long.

"Don't think I owe you one, human." said Zia in a cocky tone, which made Travis tilt his head at the pooch. Apparently, he wasn't getting much reward for helping her out in the first place…

"I mean, a thanks would suffice just fine…" Travis said with a sigh, knowing that things would turn out this way. "You just need to get better, Zia, and that's all that really matters to me. I'm not asking you to give me anything."

Zia didn't say anything for a moment, leaving Travis in thought of what she was actually thinking about, and whether or not she even heard what he said. She didn't even bother to give him an ear twitch or anything to let him know if she was listening. The teenager got his answer when Zia turned her head to look at him and he saw those violet eyes again, which were filled with emotions that he could only imagine that he could understand. Truthfully, though he didn't know it, Zia was quite surprised with Travis, not expecting him to be so genuine with a good deed like this. She trashed the place where he slept at night, and yet he wouldn't show his anger at her or even hit her. Not even a flick across her nose. From what she knew, a trainer would hit their pokemon when it did something that the trainer didn't like. Why wasn't he mad!? Zia brought her glare back in an instant before turning around and sticking her nose up once again, not being low enough to fall for his tricks. "A thanks will be all that you get, you human. This changes nothing between us, just so you know." Zia hissed.

Truthfully, Travis was getting a little frustrated with her attitude problem, but knew he would get nothing out of being mean back to Zia. She was trying to break him down and he knew it, and he knew if he could get under her skin enough, maybe she would finally come around. With those thoughts in mind, Travis decided to push his anger into the back of his head where it would fade into nothingness, he had to take responsibility for his deeds and that meant accepting things as they were until something decided to give. Everest glared at her sister.

"Since you're going to act like that, I might as well let you know that until the _both_ of us get better enough to fend for ourselves again, Travis and I agreed that we will be staying here. Like it or not, that's how it's going to be." the eevee said a matter-of-factly, making the pooch's mouth drop a little before she stared at her white furred sister, seeing that she was dead serious. Zia stomped her paw as she mumbled profanities under her breath, only getting more bad news as the day went on.

Travis, though he didn't know why, started to feel pity for the poor pooch while Everest only rolled her eyes, not wanting to hear it. Travis had to admit that it was hard to feel pity for someone who threatened and looked down on him while they made a mess of the place he called home when he offered it to them to boot.

"Fine." Zia finally said with no emotion in her voice. She knew that with the state she was in, there was no fighting off her sister and she was now pathetically weaker than the human that she loathed so much. Zia turned around to glare at Travis once more. "I hope you're proud of yourself, you fucking cunt." was the only thing she said before she went to the farthest corner of the room and laid there in silence, wrapping her tail around herself as if it were a means of protection. Everest turned toward Travis, who stared at the poochyena with a frown.

"She's more bark than bite, so don't pay her any mind." Everest said in Zia's defense, who huffed once more, not daring to grace the human with seeing her face. Travis seemed to doubt that, but trusted Everest's word nonetheless. "Is there anything I can do to thank you, Travis? You have done a lot for my sister and I already." The eevee's kindness brought a smile back to Travis's face.

"Don't mention it, please. I'm just happy to help…" Travis said before turning back to look at Zia, who didn't acknowledge him, making him half-doubt his last sentence. "Hey, Zia." he said, not getting any response just as he expected. She just seemed content with staring at the wall, she liked it more than looking at his face. "If I ever do anything that you don't like, feel free to headbutt me in the gut or something…" he told her, making Everest frown at the thought.

Zia's eyes opened a little wider than what they were already, once again being taken by surprise by what came out of this human's mouth, even though this wasn't shown because no one could see her head. Letting a pokemon hit the human when _he_ did something wrong? God, he was more spineless than she originally thought. The poochyena snorted with a smirk, not wanting to turn such a fine offer down. "Gladly." was the first thing she said in a somewhat gleeful tone since she got here. She really did hate Travis.

Everest thought that no one in the room was using their common sense but herself at this point, though she knew through the determined look of Travis's face that he was only trying to earn the pooch's trust. Everest, being her sister, knew better than anyone that he would have to go through hell and back to make that happen. The eevee feared for him, just what was he willing to go through to do it…?


	3. Chapter 3: Housebroken or Broken House?

**Chapter 3**

Zia wouldn't admit it to Everest, nor would should she dare even speak to that human who she was forced to deal with, the pooch's tantrum took what little energy she had out of her, leaving her dead exhausted in what she saw as a hostile situation that she absolutely loathed to be in. Despite her hatred of her life currently, this house and definitely Travis, her annoyingly numb body ache added with her exhaustion from her little episode was putting her straight to sleep in that little corner that she insisted on staying in. Zia knew better than to put herself into such a vulnerable position while knowing that traitorous creature could sneak up behind her and attack at anytime, unfortunately, her body was telling her to fuck off and that it didn't care if the boogeyman himself got her. God said that pooch would sleep.

...And so she did.

The sweet bliss of silence, the sound of nothing else being broken or shattered, the only sound currently being the ceiling fan that spun above the room, which did a great job of relieving Travis of his sweat soaked brow. Travis and Everest enjoyed the silence needless to say, even if it were a rather awkward one, the two of them feeling that the worst was over and hopefully, with their luck, better things were to come. That probably wasn't going to happen in that case, but they had to use their imagination for something, just to get their mind off of...this. Everest and Travis thought alike about some things, and right now, what they were thinking was the silence should be kept the way it was, more for Travis's sake than Everest's…

It was only for a few hours, three to be more exact before Everest finally woke up from the nap that she decided to have while taking advantage of the silence, which still thankfully accompanied them in the battered room. The room was significantly darker than whenever she actually fell asleep on the end of Travis's bed, and she found that she had a little blanket over her now. The eevee couldn't exactly see the color in the darkness, the only real source of light there was happened to be the street lights from outside, which crept through the slightly ajar blinds that were meant to cover the window. Even if it were pitch-black, Everest could see with no problem thanks to her gifted vision, she adapted to wherever she was, no matter day or night, she'd make an excellent umbreon. The fox expected that Travis would have fell asleep too along with the two of them, but she could only hear one person's snooze, and she knew that it was Zia just by the sound of it. That big red nose, probably even bigger than Rudolph the red-nosed Stantler, coupled with her tiny nostrils probably made for some of the most awkward, yet hilarious snores if her nose was on the stuffy side. Everest knew better than to say anything though, knowing that everyone else who talked about her nose usually had bad comments coming off their tongue, and Everest would get in trouble whenever she teased Zia for it when they were pups, even considering that she was joking. Her nose was a sensitive subject, but Everest actually liked the big red snoot.

Scoping through the room with weary violet eyes that thankfully didn't show the bags underneath them in the room, it didn't even take Everest an entire second to see that Travis was literally sitting right next to her, seemingly not moving from the bed since she fell asleep. Everest had the feeling, but if she actually remembered the way he was sitting, she would have been able to say that he didn't move an inch since then. Temporary post-sleep memory loss, happens to the best of us… Everest could see that Travis was looking at Zia in the darkness as she slept the night away like an old arcanine who could no longer play.

With a close examination of her new friend, Everest could see that he definitely changed into something more comfortable some time after she fell asleep. Many humans were different from one another, and it has been a while for her since she seen a human care about undressing in front of others, especially in their own house… Safe to say that he did move from that spot after all. Though Everest didn't mind being so close to Travis, being well aware that they both were on his bed, which she just felt invited to lay on prior to falling asleep, she was still a little creeped out from seeing Travis stare at her sister. Maybe creeped out wasn't the right term, but she was definitely confused and just as curious as the look on his face. He was thinking about something, but what…?

"Something on your mind, T?" asked Everest with genuine concern, who didn't expect Travis to suddenly jolt with a quick but whispered "Yeek!" just from her question. Everest blinked a few times to the guy's reaction as his body made the bed bounce lightly along with the two of them, the fox not being bothered by the ride, but was more concerned for her friend. "Uh, you alright? I'm sorry if I scared you, hehehe…" Everest giggled, while Travis grabbed his chest and forced himself to catch his breath before he sighed in relief with the fact that no one was there to yank him into the eternal darkness, yet still didn't miss the shot at smiling at Everest. He couldn't see nearly as well as Everest could, but after tripping and tumbling over sleeping pokemon and rocks on nightly walks, Travis eventually learned to tell shapes and outlines of living things from plain stationary objects. He knew where Everest was in the least, but the fox was glad to see his smile, no matter how faint.

"Didn't know you woke back up, Everest, heheheh…" Travis chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head with a blush as Everest gave him a sweet smile that would have told him she wouldn't jump out and get him if he could see it. Travis thought about something that suddenly caught him by surprise, causing him to sudden rewind his memory back to where Everest called him 'T'. Wow. Only friends for a single day and she was already giving him nicknames. She sure thought of him differently than Zia did for sure, but Travis smacked himself in the head to get back on track to her question. Everest cocked her head curiously as she saw her friend slap himself a few more times before letting out a deep breath.

"Uhm...going back to your question, Everest. Yes, I do have something on my mind, to tell the truth…" Travis paused before looking back over to Zia, wondering if he should even tell Everest what he was thinking about. With the fact that it _did_ have something to do with the eevee's own sister, it would only make sense that Travis at least say something about the matter to Everest, but he didn't know if she could answer his questions, or would. "I guess it would be pretty obvious, but I can't stop thinking about what could have happened to her that made her hate us, humans, so much. I'm honestly not happy about being treated like the scum on the Earth, heheheh…" Travis chuckled weakly,

Everest sighed and her ears fell limp against the sides of her head, Travis only noticing the former due to still staring at Zia in the darkness, only able to see her silhouette with her two-tone black fur blending into the night itself. Travis had every right to be curious, especially with the obvious knowledge that he didn't deserve the mistreatment in the first place, with Zia giving zero apology for making the mess that still decorated the room like it was Christmas. Everest expected him to not bring it up with her on his own accord, possibly not wanting to bring up question after question that would force her to reveal things that the two of them have experienced in the past. If anything was certain to Everest, it was that he deserved to know something, at least one of those reasons Zia treated him the way that she did. Maybe it would actually work out something good for all three of them in the future, the only way to know being to find out. Everest cleared her throat, though keeping in mind to keep her voice down like the both of them have been doing the whole time. Though he couldn't see it, he could tell Everest wouldn't want to answer that question. had he been someone else, she wouldn't even give him any answer. When she made a long frown, Travis could feel the air from the fan suddenly blow a stronger gust of wind from the blue, sending shivers down his spine…

"I'll try to keep it short and explain the important details… This is a little bit of a personal story for me, but I feel like I can trust you enough to fill you in..." whispered Everest, who peeked over to her sister who was luckily still asleep, no doubt in her mind that Zia would be a set of fireworks ready to explode if she knew what Everest was about to tell Travis. The teenager cocked his head, with no near clue of what could come out of Everest's mouth at this point. He could only wait with held breath and allow her to speak. The eevee sighed once more as she stared at the sheets, before looking up to Travis, knowing that he had to at least know something in order to get an understanding of their situation, as well as the one that he was getting himself into. "I guess you could say that I was a used pokemon, but I should probably explain what that _actually_ means coming from me…" And Everest was right, because she could tell from the utterly bewildered expression that was on Travis's face that he had little to possibly no idea what she was rambling about. She was a little annoyed with herself for beating around the bush longer than she would have liked, it was time to just let it loose.

"So I'll explain it like this… You and I both know that they're criminals that run around Johto, which could actually go for us pokemon just as well as you humans. I guess that pokemon criminals aren't really involved in this, so let's just stick to the humans. Human criminals very often use pokemon for the majority of their dirty work. To put it short, most criminals use pokemon for tools, whether it be for thievery, or to murder others for their own personal gain in the end. Then there are other criminals, who use pokemon as...toys, just to get them off, and I...was used for the latter actually." Everest let out an awkward cough and rubbed her suddenly dry throat where Travis stared at her with a petrified expression that told her that he definitely knew what she was talking about now.

With information like that, Travis expected Everest to be shivering or even crying, a break in her voice or at least something as she thought back to her memories of that time. Everest though, was somehow still keeping her composure about the subject, almost as if to Travis that she didn't really care about being _raped_ to begin with. Everest sure had to have been tough as nails to not get emotional when talking about it, and still had a heart strong enough to actually believe in Travis the way she did. How was that even possible? Seeing that Travis was a little too struck to even get a word out of his mouth, Everest decided that it'd be best that she continued.

"Some humans invaded our home and raided it, taking just about every pokemon that they could find. Zia and me were in a tight spot just like everyone else, but I planned to protect my little sister, even if that meant I had to go behind her back… I told Zia to run, and that I would be right behind her when she got far enough. That pooch wasn't nearly as prideful back in the day as she is now, hehehee…" Everest giggled, though half-heartedly as she recalled more of her memories that involved her sister. "Even with Zia doing as I told, I knew that they had their eyes on the two of us, being the rarest pokemon around sure did us zero favors, as I'm sure you already guessed. It may have not been the smartest idea, but I did what I had to do for Zia and tried to fight them all off and keep anyone from chasing her anymore. She's a little naive, even nowadays, but Zia was never flat-out stupid, and she found out too soon that I was nowhere close to being behind her. It didn't take long for Zia to come right back looking for me, but things didn't go in our favor. She did manage to tear one guy's leg clean off with those big fangs of hers…" Travis slightly shuddered at the thought of what Zia was truly capable of, and she was just talking about the past, which only gave her _a lot_ of time for change and improvement. Travis knew to not get on her bad side now, or rather, worse of a side than he already was on. Zia could have ended his life at anytime, so why didn't she? "...But the most painful thing about this part, at least to me, was seeing Zia get stomped with a boot clear in the face, which broke her nose for a while. If seeing your own blood get kicked in her beautiful face wasn't enough...it only hurts more when you hear her get called a name like 'Ugly snaggletoothed mutt'. As much as I wanted to honestly murder them then and there for what they did to my sister, I wasn't in any position to do that, already struggling just to keep my breath after they beat me down...and that would be the last time that I saw my sister for a while…"

There it was again! Who gave them the right to call that poochyena ugly and comment on her teeth like that? Travis didn't understand it, neither why he cared so much or how could anyone call Zia ugly. Sure, they were never on good terms, but once again, Travis was apparently seeing things that everyone else was blind to, besides Everest of course. Was this how everyone thought of her? Just some mangy mutt? She was a beautiful dog...and Travis would be damned if-

"Anyway, it didn't end there of course." Everest said, snapping Travis out of his monologue that he was having inside of his head. Travis decided to focus on the situation rather than keep his thoughts on details that were insignificant at the time. "Needless to say that Zia still managed to follow me, all the way to a town I think was called Goldenrod…? I'm...not going to go into detail about what went on in the building I was in...It was just...disgusting, and it reeked of musk. During my time there, I could smell Zia always being nearby. I was horrified to the thought that they caught her too and were doing unspeakable things to her, and she already dealt with so much already on her own before it all. I don't know how I could smell her over that terrible odor, especially with my nose not being near as good as her own, but I did. I soon found out though that she was nowhere near getting in that building, because I could hear her yelping outside from every time the guards would beat her and call her a disgusting junkyard mutt. Honestly…I wasn't sure if that were actually for better or for worse...b-but…" Everest took a pause as her voice started to crack, doing a poor job a keeping her composure before Travis heard her start to cry. He couldn't see it himself, but her face was a salty waterfall of tears, that she tried with little luck to wipe off her eyes before they matted her fur. Travis already had a lot of information that he was still trying to process inside of his head, nearly freezing him like an old laptop that couldn't do shit even when on the wifi. Nonetheless, he didn't stop himself from doing what he felt like he needed to, and he took Everest in a deep hug, wrapping his arms around the small fox's body. He held Everest closely to his chest, where she returned the hug with great vigor and wrapping her arms around Travis's neck, still keeping her sobbing to a minimum volume.

"Honestly...hearing how much pain Zia was in this whole time brought me more pain than the actual rape did… Some people could never understand the burden that comes with loving your siblings. They're just something that lasts forever, and they'll always follow you...even if you haven't seen each other in a while…" Though it was unintentional, Everest's words brought something on in Travis's memory, something bad, and he started to shed tears of his own. He wanted to burst out in a sob that was enough in volume to put a parade to shame, he wanted to break walls, and kick the window into sharp yet tiny pieces, but he knew that he should just keep these things to himself. So, for the time being, he did… Everest pulled back from Travis, who quickly wiped the tears from his face. It wasn't just Everest who had things in common with him, now he knew that Zia actually did too. "Basically, this is a reason why she treats you the way she does, another reason...I shouldn't say unless Zia is comfortable with it, which is safe to say not for a while, since she barely talks to me about it as it is… It's not Zia's fault for being this way. Those guys were anything but human, they were monsters...but luckily, everything was over not too long ago when Zia finally managed to get the police to help us…"

Travis was filled with a sea of emotions with waves continuously crashing with each other. He felt mostly disgusted with the whole ordeal as it were, with the way that humans treated both Zia and Everest. Every time he generally did hear something about human and pokemon intimate interaction, it was always something sad or sick like this. He didn't know what to think about the whole idea of a pokemon and human relationship, never having a pokemon of his own to share those views with, but these things sure didn't make his opinion any better if he even had one to begin with. Hatred clashed with fear, and pity clashed with disgust, yet there a little bit of happiness from how much the two sisters cared about one another. If one of them were to actually lose the other, Travis knew himself what kind of pain that would bring to them, and he didn't want them to go through it. No one deserved to go through the pain of losing their sibling…

"Everest...I honestly don't know what to say to all of that… I know a sorry won't make it any better, but now I understand where you guys are coming from. I didn't think that it would be this bad…" Travis muttered, just over his breath enough for Everest to hear, though her great hearing would have allowed her to hear the faintest of whispers coming from him anyway. Travis was starting to connect events, the whole Goldenrod City scandal, Everest and Zia were victims of it. None of it was fair. Why couldn't humans and pokemon get along like they were meant to? To think Zia hated him because he was associated with these guys, just because he was human. He frowned, an expression that said nothing but misery, the situation only seeming to get worse like the half month rotten garbage that no one decided to take out. "I just...wish Zia would give me a chance. Not every human is like that… I couldn't ever bring myself to rape a pokemon, or really anything… That's just...That's just fucking wrong…" Zia was powerless at that point, and Travis was only trying to give her an equal field to stand on so she wouldn't feel under him. She treated him like shit because she _was_ treated like shit, and now she felt that she always needed to be top dog

"Don't kill yourself over it, T. It's over now, and I'm just glad that both Zia and I are still alive at least. She's gotten a lot stronger since then, I can't even hope to match her strength at this point unless I evolve. She wants to be 'the strongest damn poochyena around', as she quoted herself, and she's been doing a decent job of that...but I wish that she had her compassion back… Look, Travis, I know that Zia can be a pain in the ass to deal with, but maybe she could come around… I've got the feeling you could be her best friend and give her a reason to smile, and maybe she could lose her hostility near you guys. It doesn't look like it at all...but she's really sweet, with a kind and genuine heart that'd put any fairy type pokemon to shame. She just needs a chance...someone to take it slow and show her that kindness that she never got from any human, and I feel like you want to do that. If I could say anything about this, is that she's missing out on a great friend like you, and she knows it, hehe…"

Though he couldn't see her genuine smile, Travis could clearly heard her giggle, which was probably the most genuine giggle that he ever heard. The way that Everest stood up for sister in trying times, back in the day and even now was truly beautiful to Travis and it warmed his heart. Everest truly had sisterly love for Zia, and he knew that he should give the pooch a chance from that alone, even if he was still irritated with the fact that she destroyed his room in her fit with no regards that...you know...he lived there. Travis smiled weakly, rubbing Everest on her head, causing her to giggle some more.

"In the meantime...at least I trust you. So that enough for you right now?" Everest asked jokingly, Travis returning a chuckle with a little more vigor than before. He nodded to the unique eevee.

"I guess I like the both of you too much to really care, but I understand enough. Anyway, how about I get some food ready or something. You guys are probably starving after going the whole day without eating anything. I know I am." Travis joked before Everest perked up with the mention of a meal, how she was able to go through the day as weak as she was without anything to eat was far beyond her. The eevee's stomach suddenly started to rumble, causing Travis to chuckle at how audible it was, it was almost a little scary. Everest blushed in embarrassment.

"Should I wake my sister up and tell her too?" Everest asked curiously while Travis shrugged. It wasn't that Travis didn't care whether or not the pooch ate, quite the opposite in fact. He only hoped that she wouldn't add to the mess that she had already made to begin with. Travis planned to hopefully fix this huge mess up tomorrow, but he had other things to worry about in the meantime…

"Better sooner than later, I don't want her to starve any longer then you do. I'll go get some things ready in the meantime while you get her up. Give me a bit." Travis told the eevee before standing up and going into the kitchen to get their meals ready, seeing that his mother wasn't home yet to make them anything…

* * *

Travis was no master chef by any means, so it wasn't too hard for Travis to decide to fix the crew some sausages from the fridge. Sure, they weren't the best sausages in the world or anything, but they would certainly do some justice for the meantime, being quick, tasty, and really easy to make. A complete moron could just slap them in the microwave for a minute or two without fucking it up, meaning that Travis practically had it in the bag. On the side of those sausages, Travis also had an assortment of berries at home lined up for the occasion, berries of all kinds. Their fridge at home was nearly packed to the brim with berries in the lower compartments thanks to Travis's grandparents. 'You could never have too many berries'. His grandmother would usually say, and this time they were actually gonna be given some true use other than just eating for fun. He knew exactly what berries were needed to help the duo get better, mostly just a mixture of simple oran and sitrus berries. Not a hard guess. Knowing that Zia loved pinap berries, he slid the last two in her little bowl. Truth be told, pinap were actually his favorite berry too, though he doubted Zia would give a flying fuck about what he liked. If anything, Travis wanted to make Zia and Everest feel right at home. It was clear that Zia would take a lot longer to heal than her sister, meaning that she would be around with them much longer than she would like. Travis knew he had no reason to at this point besides her sister, but Travis wanted to make her feel comfortable, not just in this house, but around him as well.

Travis was more curious of Zia than anything, not being sure that he could truly bring himself to hating the pooch on his own accord. He chuckled to himself, knowing that he was terribly, yet blissfully naive with these kind of things. He was awfully smitten with the rare pooch in a really awkward way, he was too fascinated with her for his own good, almost to the point of creeping himself out. He wouldn't say that he liked her _that_ way, but he was just...happy with her presence for apparently no good reason. Travis knew that most likely, the two of them would never get along with the way things were going, but clearly there was something about this whole thing that was getting under her skin in a way that Travis didn't really expect to see. There was something else going on in her head, something of deeper meaning that he couldn't understand nor would he ever know how he got the assumption of it in the first place…

While Travis was doing his thing in the kitchen, Everest nudged at Zia's side, careful to not poke her in any bruised areas. The reaction she got was exactly the one that she expected, Zia bolting up from her slumber and snapping her head back and forth to scan the room that she still was in with a snarl. Zia was known to have some...very vivid nightmares, and knowing the situation that they were in, Everest knew what to expect from her. Zia was panting slightly, with a hint of musk due to stressing herself in her rest, which only made her even more exhausted and ready to fall back down to the ground.

Zia would never admit her little spook to her sister, but she was expecting Travis to suddenly grab her in the darkness with a knife in his hand, like _he_ always did. Zia calmed down thankfully, soon finding that human to be nowhere in sight, probably off hiding somewhere to plan his strike on the two of them. Before the poochyena could blurt out some nonsense from her mouth accusing Travis of being some nutcase out to get her, Everest nuzzled her sister in her neck fur, making Zia relax herself a little more, even if it was only just enough to get her to see that she was awake.

"Hey, it's time to come and eat. Travis is making us some food so I decided to wake you up." Everest said, smiling sweetly to her sister, who only snorted and turned her nose. This was the reason that she was woken up by her wonderful(not really so wonderful) slumber? Just so that she could hear that human's name again, and along with the fact that he was still breathing. Travis this, Travis that. His name would never leave Zia be, seemingly out to haunt her though she did nothing wrong, at least she didn't see what she did wrong. She padded her paws on his pair of jeans that were on the floor earlier, determined to stay there in that isolation corner with that pair of jeans being her means of bedding. Too bad her pride couldn't overpower the overbearing pain of being starved with her condition, and her stomach only rumbled even louder than Everest's. If the fox didn't know any better, she would have thought that they had an entire audience watching them, even if it wasn't a big one.

"You say that now, buuuuut…" Everest sneered, putting her paws together and mimicking the motion of flapping lips. Zia fumed with a growl, her face turning red with embarrassment. She always got the short end of the stick when it came to her teasing ability.

"You speak of this to no one…" Zia barked in a quiet voice before walking around her sister and into the hallway. Zia hated her sister whenever she teased her like that, but she still loved and respected her enough to not shove past her or anything of a similar nature… The poochyena and eevee sisters made their way to the living room where they smelled Travis's scent, along with a few other delectable scents that nearly brought the sisters to high heaven and back, it being the first time they smelled some semi-decent food in a while. Travis had decided to let the duo eat in the living room with him, just because they could.

"Heh, glad you could make it, ladies, would you like to join me?" Travis said lamely while terribly imitating some high end wealthy man, Zia shooting him a nasty glare that made it clear that she only came for the food and not for some cheesy date or to hear him talk. Both of their bowls were sat on the couch next to Travis, with Everest supposedly being seated in the middle of the two, a smart move on Travis's part. Their bowls were conveniently color coded, a silver one for Everest, and a black one for Zia, both of which had their names crudely written on them in violet, Travis being thankful that his handwriting was at least legible. This all was a bit odd to Everest, but she wouldn't turn down such a kind gesture and decided to play along to their 'fancy' dinner.

"Why thank you, sir. I would be glad to join you." Everest said in a suddenly very elegant and ladylike tone that made Zia cringe with disgust before hopping on her spot right next to Travis. Her mouth watered as she gazed at the sausages that were in her bowl, cooked to a nice crisp brown. When was the last time she even _had_ meat that looked this good? The berries also gave her no less imagination, practically being her desert. She wasted no more time in gawking and dug in straight away. Zia just stared at her bowl of food that was there, on the couch, where she was never allowed to sit. The bowl even had pinap berries...oh the sly dog. Why was he being _this_ nice to her? What did she do to deserve it? Whatever game of charades that the human was playing with her was quickly starting to get stale. Needless to say, the way Zia stared daggers at the bowl he offered did anything _but_ relax Travis, and he could see that she was raising her paw toward the bowl…

 _ **SMACK!**_

Berries and sausages were sent flying in the air before hitting smack-dab on the floor before the bowl did just the same. Juices of the sausages and the berries were now slightly splattered across the floor with Zia giving nothing more than a grumpy frown. Travis and Everest were left in genuine shock which open mouths, though they could agree that they should have seen this outcome sooner.

"I'm just a dumb animal...so I prefer to eat like one." Zia spat dryly before eating her meal off of the ground. She chowed down the pinap berries with great vigor before she would move on to the sausages, chewing sloppily enough to cause her saliva to drip and flick even more across the floor in thick clumps, and she purposely let chunks of her food fall out of her mouth just to mark the floor further, the only thing she didn't sacrifice were her favorite berries. Zia smirked, awfully proud of herself before Travis deeply groaned and brought his hands over his face. Mom was not going to be happy if she came home from work just to see this mess that was practically _his_ fault. Everest patted his back, continuing to try and encourage him to give Zia time to get used to him.

Travis, not willing to bring himself to admit it to Everest, was going bananas inside of his head. He didn't allow himself to show his anger in any other form than gritting his teeth to the point of breaking them, which neither of the twins have noticed to begin with. Nothing would come out of it. _Just what will it take to understand that I'm just trying to be nice to her...and why is she saying she's a dumb animal? Did those bastards really make her_ _ **this**_ _hateful!? Ugh…_

"Don't worry, I'll clean it up…" Travis said weakly while Zia didn't bother to bat an eye his way, too content with the taste of the pinap berry to care about what he was talking about. Everest was about to open her mouth and say something, but decided that it would be best to keep it shut for the time being, whether it be to Travis or Zia. It would do nothing to improve their relationship, that was for sure. At least Travis seemed to be taking the abuse well in her eyes… But he really wasn't.

* * *

Travis was lucky to get that floor sparkly clean before his mom would get home, cleaning the mess was anything but a hard job considering the fact that his mother replaced the carpet floor with a nice, leveled wooden one. Whatever god was up there, Travis was thanking it, grateful for the flooring for the first time in...ever, because he had preferred the carpet before tonight. Zia had long since trotted back to Travis's room, more like her room at this point with her nose high as per usual. Everest, reluctantly, followed her sister as if to stop her from getting the two of them into anymore trouble. Travis looked to the suddenly creaking front door, where his mother was soon to stroll in with her purse in hand. It was safe to say that he got his looks from his mother, her black hair being in braids that were bowed up neatly, making for a braided ponytail. She shared the same, dark brown colored eyes as Travis, though most would say that her eyes definitely stood out more. Her clothes were nothing special to her, just a red business casual dress that she decided to wear. She looked rather exhausted, but the moment she saw her son's face quickly brought a smile to her face. Needless to say that mother loved her son, and to see _him_ actually cleaning for a change only made it all the better.

"Why good evening, Travis. I'm glad to see that you're holding the mop for once." his mother joked in a singsong voice, making Travis chuckle a little, brightening his day even with the smallest amount of kindness was exactly what Travis needed right now.

"Heh, I'm glad to see you too, mom." Travis said with a brief roll of his eye, knowing his mother was only happy to see him help her out around the house. The teenager always agreed with the fact that he should always listen to his mother, he would do anything for her for everything that she did for him and then some. "By the way, I meant to bring this up, but is it okay that two other pokemon stayed with us until they get better? I met them on my way back here and told them that they could, but I should have told you that sooner...ahahaha…" Travis chuckled, soon giving his mother a pleading grin that he wished worked nearly as well on Zia as it did on her.

Mother gave a thoughtful expression. Sure, she _was_ his mother, but who was she to deny two pokemon that were in need, or her son who seemed determined enough to look after them so far. It wasn't a surprise that Travis was trying to help a pokemon, she always expected something of the sort to eventually happen, maybe not so soon, but she saw it coming. She was a little more worried about why she wasn't concerned about two wild pokemon running around their home than the fact that were wild pokemon in her home to begin with. Come to think of it, why wouldn't he just catch a pokemon of his own by now? He _was_ a little too noble to just catch a pokemon without their own permission though. That was the way it would stay, and she was glad that Travis gave that kind of respect to pokemon, and she felt with that attitude of his that he could make friends with anyone, as long as they were willing to be friends to begin with.

"I see no reason to turn you down, my little Travis. I hope that I could meet with them soon. I'm sure that they have a lot of nice things to say about you!" Mother chirped, Travis giving a forced smile, oh if only she knew the truth about that...but he would have to say something about it sooner or later lest he want his mother to be left in the dark of a certain pooch's behavior.

"See that's the thing...See, the eevee. She likes me just fine, we pretty much agree on everything and we get along well...The poochyena though, she isn't too fond of me yet, so I wouldn't say that she would be in the mood for meeting anyone at the moment…" Travis told her with a nervous grin, keeping in mind to look out for Zia and keep her destructive onslaughts to himself. Mother's expression didn't seem to change much.

"Well, you know that I used to have pokemon of my own, so I know what it's like to have a pokemon or two that doesn't like me. You seem to be doing a good job of keeping them out of trouble…" ...Not really… "I'm sure if you give her time, I'm sure you would have _two_ lovely girlfriends!" Travis choked on the air itself as mother laughed at his beet red face, trying his best to shush his mom before the others could hear their conversation. Things would be mighty awkward with everyone if they heard her talking right now. He knew that she was joking, or at least hoped that she was, but that was a bit of a deep joke to him, even saying that he didn't know how to think of it.

"M-Mom...please. I'm not into that kind of thing with more than one person…" Travis said before shooting his eyes open and suddenly sweating bullets. "...A-And I'm certainly not into... _pokemon_ either. That's just…" Travis covered his face in his hands after he started to trip over his words and make sentences with no proper structure. What was grammar to him when he was already embarrassed that badly by his own mother, God, was he glad that Everest and Zia weren't still in the living room with the two of them. Mother only exploded into a fit of laughter and giggled louder. Travis had no choice but to deal with it with a sunken head, he knew that as long as he could just keep that fact that Zia was making these messes that he had to clean up away from her, as well as the fact that there were messes to begin with, things wouldn't be too complicated from there on at least. If that plan did fall apart, he could at least say that she only did it on accident. He was golden, hopefully…

"Well at least I know that you'll treat that one well, just don't do anything too hasty. You could never be too careful when it comes to your…" Mother continued on, starting to whisper something under her breath to Travis, giving him an entire speech that would make anyone mortified to hear from their own mother. Needless to say Travis was left in absolute shock. Sure, she was just looking out for his best interest...BUT WAS SHE FOR REAL ABOUT THAT!? IT WAS INSANE!

"MOM!" Travis barked, though in the least disrespectful way possible, keeping in mind that was still his loving mother, who only giggled at her son. She probably knew what was going on in Travis's head more than he actually did himself.

Zia slightly cringed while his mother went a little too in detail about how he should _protect_ himself against the threats of the horrid, spine-chilling wild female. Zia had been just around the bend in the hallway, hearing a little more information than what she wanted. She was more disgusted than anything else due to her face instantly turning the color of her nose with mention of Travis's...thing. Who in there right mind would even think about being mated to that creature that plagued her life to the point to where even her sister was now friends with him. She hated Travis, and she hated the thought of someone being mated to him more, because he was nothing but a backstabber, who would soon strike and stab hers. But surely, surely in the way of the hell she wasn't suggesting that _she_ would like Travis, much less _that_ far. Zia stuck her tongue out in repulse, more so at Travis than the other human that was obviously with him in the same room. For unknown reasons, he was her prime target of interest right now, and surely not the good kind of interest. If anything, Zia just wanted this to end more than anything else in the world. If she could find a way to get under his skin enough and get him to show his true colors, Everest would see that she was right the entire time. She wouldn't be scared of him, not this time…

 _You better sleep well, damn human...I'll make sure I leave this place one way or another...just like I should have before we met… I don't want to live this life again, and I'm not a stupid bitch like I was before,...Zack…_ With that thought, Zia slumped back into the room with the same frown that she wore all day. There was a lot on her mind that she did not want to think about, but the cold breeze from the open window only made the memories that she had feel like they were happening all over again. Sadness, fear, regret…

Love…

She would hear it no more…


	4. Chapter 4: Serving It Zia's Way

**Chapter 4**

 _I have never needed friends before, in fact, I seemed to be doing just dandy until I made my first. There were too many lies before so many regrets that I've long lost count on my mental list. The only thing that I knew currently is that I couldn't take the pain that came with having a friend anymore, to be so close to someone just to find out that they only wanted you for your hidden power and rarity, to be stabbed in the back, almost literally. I am an ill-favored, mindless, and feeble mutt who has no feelings according to every human that I have met. Being a poochyena, I suppose that I was cursed with the rest of our kind to be treated as if these statements were true, so making friends wasn't a thing I wanted to concern myself with ever again. This was the way things were meant to be, forever, and I wanted to prove that no human really ever cared for us. Especially that damn Travis, and Zachary…_

The next morning was a little less than pleasant when Travis woke up, a terrible draft making his body shiver from head to toe, thanks to the whirling ceiling fan from above. The boy looked down to his chest and body while he still laid in bed within his leaf green pajamas, only to discover that his blanket had holes ripped right through them, and they were mighty big rips at that, puffs of fleece and wool were all over the floor, on the bed, and stuck in his hair. Travis instantly bolted his body upright to scan the room for the beast that did the crime, how he was able to sleep through it was the main question on his mind.

Everest still was fast asleep in the same place that he had told her goodnight, looking to not have moved an inch from that spot since. The hazel eevee was curled in a little ball at Travis' feet, snoozing the night away with the little red blanket that he gave to her the night prior. He would have gave one to Zia too, but he feared that she wouldn't take too kindly to his gesture and just... _Zia…_

Turning his head in the direction of the fallen pair of jeans where Zia claimed her bed, Travis saw Zia glaring straight into his eyes with a grin, the wool of his bed sheets kabobbed onto her protruding fangs, making the boy give a slight shiver, but he didn't want to react to it in a way that would further upset her. Travis considered himself lucky that Everest was starting to raise her head from her sleep before things could get even more uncomfortable between the two rivals, slowly blinking her eyes open most likely due to Travis' sudden movement in the bed. The shiny eevee gave the crew a wide, but brief yawn in greeting, flicking her tongue back while doing so before smiling at Travis and Zia. That smile didn't last very long however, when she noticed Travis' blanket being in shreds while her own sister carried some of the remains stabbed onto her teeth like trophies. Whatever happened while she was asleep, Everest was certain that she didn't even want to know, though she knew that she was under some circumstance to know since Zia was her responsibility. Luckily for her, Travis was forcing himself to just get over it for the time being until the two of them were healed, whenever that would be. Travis already had some plans to fix the mess that was currently his room.

Travis gave the eevee a smile, showing the now calming down vixen that she wasn't in any trouble. "Morning, Everest. Would you mind doing me a favor? Nothing bad or too much, promise."

Everest gulped, though was slightly reassured by his last sentence, fearing the possibility of getting thrown out while they still had their injuries, Zia still being in a much more fragile state. Everest, the one day that she had stayed here, had actually grown very fond of being in a domesticated home, even being a wild pokemon still. The promised meals, the soft bed to sleep on, a life to where she didn't have to fight just to eat or keep her own privacy...Truly, Everest discovered that she has been missing out on a great life that the Goldenrod brothel could or would never offer her. With that, Everest had silently made up her mind on actually keeping this life. Even if she couldn't stay with Travis, he showed her that this was truly a better life than what she had before. If only her sister would agree, she could maybe find herself a home too, and maybe have herself a good human friend.

"What do you need, Travis?" Everest turned toward the boy, face beaming in curiosity and diminishing anxiety, but she still gave him a sweet smile as she always did.

"Do you think that you and Zia could hang out in this other room?" Travis pointed in direction of the hallway. Diagonally across from the bathroom door stood another door, painted a plain white in color, the contents of the room not being explored by the twins yet. Zia narrowed her gaze at Travis as he ignored her presence to talk to her sister, as if she didn't have any say in what was going on, like she wasn't any good to talk to.

 _Humph, why would I even care…? He's such a hopeless idiot, he probably just knows he can't control me…_ Zia turned her back to Travis and Everest just as they looked her way, clearing her thoughts of anything having to do with the human. She wanted out of this mess, she wanted nothing to do with Travis or his friendship, and that went as soon as possible which was until her wounds healed or she did something drastic to upset Travis. She was in favor of the latter of course, as it were much quicker and fun, but if she were a human, she'd have the right to just leave. Sometimes, Zia hated being a pokemon.

"I just need to take care of some business for a while, there's nothing in that other room so there isn't much to look at... I actually would have given you guys the room to sleep in to make the atmosphere a little more bearable…" said Travis, Everest nodding in understanding. "My mom has plans for renovating it for something, I'm not so sure as for what but since there's nothing in there, I feel like you guys can't get into much trouble while I handle things, is that alright with you, Everest?"

"No problem, T! We'll try to keep out of trouble!" Everest chimed with a cute smile before she hopped off of the mattress with grace, making no noise as she landed on the ground to make her way over to Zia, who still faced toward the wall, trying to not hear anymore of their conversation. Travis watched as Everest got Zia to stand up without a fight with just a simple nudge, and the two of them walked side by side out of the room, Zia glaring at Travis with her nose pointed high as she always had before they walked into the other room, Everest closing it to where a slight crack was left, knowing well that neither of them had clue of how to use a doorknob, and didn't want to be stuck inside for a long eternity.

With the twins finally gone for the moment, Travis took a brief look around his room. The cracked dressers, the broken television, the torn curtains that allowed the darkness to completely shroud his room in the middle of the day...his beloved Wii. It was obvious that Travis had to fix this mess, and he would need some help if he wanted to get his room back in tip top shape. Whipping out his PokeNav, which thankfully wasn't out in the open when Zia went into her super poochyan fit, and decided that it was time to make a little phone call…

* * *

After a firm knock at the front door was heard, Travis took the duty of walking out of his room to answer it, now out of his jammies and in a dark green t-shirt and blue gym shorts, bottomed with a pair of red slides cuffed snugly around his feet. After undoing the lock to the door, Travis swiftly opened it, soon revealing someone who awaited him, a dust brown duffel bag around the new person's shoulders where the contents of which were unknown, but looked to be a heavy load to say the least.

The boy who met Travis pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose to adjust them as he smiled at his cousin. He was about five inches shorter than Travis, wearing a red hoodie that he would be seen with nearly every time he went out, even in the blistering summer. Under that, he wore a pair of jean shorts and a pair of black boots. He adjusted the bag on his shoulders, looking a little out of it from carrying it the whole way over there.

"Brendan, glad you could make it!" Travis lightly slapped his little cousin on the back before he would welcome the younger teen inside, where the two of them made way to Travis' room in the back. Brendan was a tech savvy teen, Travis' younger cousin who was able to fix just about every mess that Travis had gotten into, electronically speaking that is. He was usually quiet in public places such as school, and preferred to keep to himself rather than get into trouble with the other kids. He was intelligent in more ways than one.

"Yeah, good thing I was already planning on coming over here anyway. Dad's still at work, and mom just left and there was nothing in the fridge over there. After we get this stuff fixed up, I could hook up the game and we can just chill out today..." Brendan smiled as he and Travis walked into the hallway before finally reaching the room of interest, and red hoodie wearer's mouth dropped as he caught true sight of the damage that he heard about just an hour ago over the phone. "...Look, Travis, I'm happy to help you out, but...you _gotta_ tell me what the hell happened." Brendan gave Travis a blank expression after getting a clear look at the room, looking as if it were the aftermath of the Pokemon League! Travis grinned, sweat dripping as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

While Brendan dropped his bag to the ground and opened it to get his toolkit ready, Travis decided to also be productive and grab a broom and a hamper to dump his dirty clothes. "Yeah, I got a _long_ story to tell you. Well...maybe not too long, but you won't believe what happened over the last few days…" Travis' voice dropped to a whisper, explaining the recent events that went down as Brendan got to work on fixing the shattered television, Travis only whispering in hopes that a certain pooch would try and mind her own business and not butt in…

That certain pooch, meanwhile, had the face that was screaming with irritancy as she kept her ear pressed at the wall that the currently dead silent room shared with Travis' own room, listening in on all of the memories of yesterday and days before that she did not want to hear about again, especially from Travis himself. Everest sat on the floor next to her in the empty room, void of anything but white paint and a wooden floor, the fox having a suspicious look on her face as she realized the lack of having anything to do might have been getting to Zia's head. "Um, Zia...I do believe that they've been done with that conversation for a while now...do you _still_ have to keep listening in on them? That's all you've been doing since we came in here." asked the vixen, a hint of annoyance in her voice as the hyena continued to ignore what she was saying, still in favor on spying on them. Spying on _him_ more specifically.

"No, I have to listen on him. The human's planning something, and it only makes me feel more sure since he has an accomplice with him now. I'm dead sure of it…" growled Zia in a whisper while Everest raised her eyebrow. Strangely enough to Everest, the fox noticed that Zia's attention was much more focused on Travis than on the new person who came with him. Did she really even care about this new human? Everest assumed that he was named Brendan, once again thanks to her superior hearing that allowed her to hear just about everything that happened around the house, no matter the situation. The vixen was grateful that Travis did not tell his cousin about her past, as it would only leave an awkward sensation in the air. "I could never trust someone like him…"

As the poochyena continued to rant, mostly to herself, Everest went briefly silent, before finally asking "Zia, why do you always refer to Travis and not any other human that's around us? We didn't even meet the other guy, yet you still concern yourself with Travis first and foremost and don't bother anyone else...I haven't heard you speak ill of his mother at all or even look at her the way you look at Travis…" Zia slowly turned her head to face her sister, her face devoid of any emotion.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Zia with a frown, Everest sweating only slightly as she tried to pointlessly figure her sister out to no avail so far.

"You seem very hell bent on getting under Travis' skin, as if you saw things like he were trying getting under yours. You focus on him and no one else. Basically." the eevee said, clear enough for the poochyena to understand, though the only response given was the pooch turning to face the wall again as if to ignore her…

 _...Why_ _ **do**_ _I care about what the human does…? Man, do I hate it when she's actually right-_

"Travis hasn't done us wrong at all since we've been here… In fact, if I didn't know any better, I would think that you really didn't hate him at all, and were just trying to get his attention…" Everest ears flattened slightly, not even trying to be a tease this time. Her ears only flattened further when the poochyena scoffed her way.

The poochyena had heard enough of what her sister had to say, now giving the now worried eevee a demonic smirk, her protruding fangs sheening with the sunlight that came into the empty room through the window. "Ha! Perish the thought, I'll show you that I mean business, it doesn't matter what I do with him! He's gonna hate me by the time I'm through messing with him, and then you'll see what he will do to us!" the pooch barked before swinging the ajar door open, now the door smacking at the wall with her snout before she stormed out of the room, leaving a concerned shiny eevee to only watch. If she knew anything, she at least knew that the pooch wouldn't harm Travis without enough incentive, as she would have done so when she first came here with her. It was very strange…

It had been close to an hour since Brendan and Travis were making their repairs to the entirety of the room. Fixing a broken television was no big feat for Brendan, especially the slightly older model that Travis had, even being able to completely replace the screen. With the damage that Zia had caused to it, he told Travis that he had the bare minimum to be able to work with his Nintendo Wii, which was now going under his repairs, otherwise the poor gaming system would have been finito. The young teen couldn't believe the adventure that Travis had with these two sisters so far from what he heard. He was fairly surprised the poochyena didn't try to murder or at least harm him by now. Perhaps she wasn't as bad as others would let on.

Travis had finally finished sweeping up the trash that could not have been salvaged, all of his clothes now put away in the hamper, and now his room was sparkly clean, even with the bed sheets being made correctly! Travis was preparing to give himself a mental high five for having the patience to deal with the mess he admittingly brought to himself, before part of said mess walked proudly into the room with "Hope I'm not interrupting anything important." and a flick of her tail.

The cousins both looked toward Zia's way as she strutted into Travis' own room, face as smug as ever as if she owned the place. Travis was mighty suspicious of what she was doing, and he had every right to be. Unbeknownst to Brendan and himself, Zia was looking for anything around the room that she could deal with to firmly prove her point on how much she hated Travis. That pooch was a sly one when she wanted to be, and she immediately picked out Brendan, who was on the ground and attempting to fix something that looked to be one of Travis' electronic possessions. Zia only knew vaguely how they worked inside, but knew fully that it would be fun to screw with it and make Travis' situation worse than it already was.

"Hey, what's this?" Zia asked Brendan, gazing at the badly battered Wii that was now between Brendan and herself, more specifically, she set her gaze on the wires that connected some of the pieces, Travis gritting his teeth but forcing himself to hide his stress for his own good. Before the tech savvy lad could answer her question, the hyena "mistakenly" stabbed her claws into the wires before grinding into them and breaking them in twos and fours, now practically dancing on the broken console with her paws and claws in only a few seconds. "Doesn't seem important to me." Zia chirped.

Travis slapped his palms over his face before falling backwards onto his bed, the mattress bouncing back under him while Brendan adjusted his glasses with his sweat beginning to cause them to slip off. He dare not try to speak against the poochyena, mostly from fear of what she would do to him with those teeth of hers. It was a little funny how Travis found this "really cute", in his own words. After she was done with her tribal dance, the poochyena smirked proudly at Travis, who was too busy staring into the palms of his hands to even notice her before she promptly left, earning yet another point for team Zia.

Brendan scratched his head as he looked at the now even more damaged gaming console, but the sunlight struck completely inside of the room, for some reason that no one could explain unless they were an anime fan, and his glasses gleamed with a brilliant white light as his extreme technology skills could now be truly put to work. He gave a smirk to no one in particular. "I can still fix this- I'll just need a-"

"Don't bother yourself, Brendan. It's over for it, I'll just hope to get that new Nintendo console that's coming out for the holiday or something. I'll sweep it up in a minute." Travis groaned from his bed, Brendan sighing in disappointment as Everest walked inside the room, hoping that Zia hadn't caused too much trouble, but she knew it was past late for those kind of hopes...

"What happened…? I see you got the room clean at least…" Everest looked over to Travis, ears slightly lowered as she caught his less than happy expression under his hands, she could only hope he was just sleepy. The vixen looked to where she met the new face who was previously trying to fix Travis' console, and his expression said that he was in awe and above, jaw dropping and glasses hitting the floor as he saw the glimmering beauty that was a shiny eevee. Everest tilted her head at the gawking boy, but still gave him a sweet, friendly smile. It was more of a knowing look than a confused one for sure.

"Whoa! Travis, you never said anything about her being a _**shiny**_ eevee!" Brendan barked, Travis raising his head slightly from his slump to pay attention to what was going on between the two. It was true though, Everest was quite the sight for everyone to say the least. Everest nodded politely to the red hoodied teen as he hurried and picked up his glasses to avoid embarrassing himself too much, thanking whatever god that was up there that they didn't break. From the fall.

"Hello, my name's Everest!" the eevee barked with a pure cheer as she gave the lad a courteous bow in greeting, definitely giving off a better impression than her sister did right off the bat. Why wasn't _she_ the one Travis was interested in? "May I ask yours?"

"My n-name's Brendan." the teen stuttered, causing Travis to smirk at him, already knowing some of the thoughts that his cousin had in his head. One of those might have been " _She is cute!"_ And he wouldn't have meant just adorable. Travis didn't question what his cousin was into, because as long as he didn't harm anyone during that interest and going against their will, whatever he liked was his own business. That's what set him apart from a rapist. "I'm Travis' cousin, n-nice to meet you." The vixen giggled and smiled at him, possibly catching on to his nervousness already before she looked to what was once the broken television, which was now standing perfectly fixed right on the dresser where it belonged. A perfectly convenient way to begin a conversation with him!

"Oh, so that's what he called you here for. Wow, you have to be really smart to be able to fix that tv so quickly, I didn't think it could be saved...and to be saved so well to boot!" praised Everest, her tail swaying behind her while Brandon blushed and rubbed his neck, staring up at the ceiling in hopes of avoiding her admittingly beautiful violet eyes.

"Haha, I guess you could say that." Brendan shrugged off the praise, earning an eye roll from his big cousin. "I just do this stuff for fun, it's nothing really interesting. What's really more interesting than my life is the life of a silver eevee, I can see where your name comes from. You ever think about changing your name when you evolve? I don't think of of the eeveelutions would match your current look once you evolve." Brendan said with a chuckle, sitting in front of the eevee who shrugged, though still smiled at him as she sat down herself.

"I'll still keep my name regardless, but I wasn't really sure about what evolution I want… I mean, it's just…" And just like that, Brendan and Everest were already going back and forth with a friendly conversation. Something serving to make Travis give his best smile all morning, and that smile would only grow bigger when he caught a whiff of something cooking in the kitchen. Mother was making Sunday breakfast!

Travis made quick plans to head to the kitchen to greet his mother with a good morning, the day having finally seemed to turn around in favor of him. The teen was just coming around the bend of the hallway, where he could see his mother frying some morning steak on the pan. He would have grinned, but something else that he saw quickly put a halt to his good mood, and she was right at his mother's feet in a dangerous distance.

Zia and his mother were actually having a decent, adult conversation! That wasn't bad by itself for certain, but considering what Zia had done earlier today and yesterday, Travis had plenty of reason to be more than spooked that they talked while his mom cooked. _Just what is she trying to do here…? At least she's not hurting mom, but..._

"It's just some steak, eggs, and toast, nothing too special, dear!. I'm making enough for everyone, so you'll be able to get your share, Zia." Mother told the pooch in her usual chipper tone, ignoring Travis' warnings from yesterday that she seemed to hate humans. _Why are they talking so casually!? It's almost as if Zia changes her mind about things just to make me go crazy! She hated humans, now she's just polite to anyone besides me… What a weird pooch…_

Zia tilted her head at the lady as she once again flipped two pieces of steak on the pan with ease to let them cook a little longer. Zia had to admit that she was impressed with the lady's cooking skill. She may not have had anything to compare it to, but she could still say that it was the best damn cooking that she has ever seen! "I am confused though, I didn't imagine the standard human breakfast to have steak involved. I thought it was usually bacon or sausage being cooked for meats."

Mother hummed as she finally turned the heat on the stove off to allow her precious breakfast to cool down for a moment, a smile still on her face as she looked down to the pooch. "Well that's how it used to be around here, I usually cook steak now because it's my son's favorite type of meat, and he'll eat sandwiches stuffed with them!" she giggled, Zia turning her head to stare daggers at Travis, having smelled his scent spying on them since he appeared. The young man gulped and looked around the room awkwardly as an unaware Mom started to prepare the plates for breakfast, which counted up to five, meaning there was also an extra plate for Brendan, who usually came over on a Sunday morning like this. Mom took the liberty of adding some of everyone's favorite berries to the hearty breakfast, Zia having informed her earlier what berries her sister and herself enjoyed most, meaning Zia's plate had some nice, juicy pinap berries added to it.

Travis tried to his best ability to ignore his suspicion of Zia, which was becoming more and more easier with the smell of Sunday breakfast in the air. Quickly swallowing his anxiety, Travis strolled over to the dining room table, where Mother was setting down plates for the four kids to chow down. Travis always loved it when his mother cooked on Sunday's, as she could make some of the best steak and eggs that he had ever tasted. The steak was so savory and juicy. The eggs were cooked brilliantly with melted cheese that gave everyone who ate them a wholesome feeling, and a need to use the restroom thirty minutes after. The toast, toasted to a nice, crispy brown that could only be better with butter and grandma's homemade jelly on top. Having his favorite berries to go with his meal only served to make Travis' meal all the better, and all he had to do was just grab it!

It was only ironic that the minute Travis was done with his daydreaming, he found his plate of food clashing with the floor thanks to Zia's paw, "accidentally" smacking it off of the table after she climbed onto the chair. Knowing exactly what it was that Zia was trying to do, Travis groaned, gritting his teeth and slamming his hands back over his face. He couldn't understand why she was doing this to him, but he knew that it was starting to make him visibly show his frustration at her, which meant that she was slowly winning.

Zia immediately hopped down from the chair once the deed was done, flattening her ears as she forced a frown on her face, though she knew she was taking pleasure in seeing Travis upset at her, even if it were guilty pleasure. "Oh...I spilled all of your food, darn...that steak was your favorite thing too wasn't it…? Are...Are you going to hit me?"

Travis stopped the display of his anger to stare at Zia, a blank expression on his face as he attempted to process what Zia just asked him, Mother turning toward the two of them, a concerned expression on her face. The two of them were in shock at what Zia suggested, and their shock had different reasons to them. With a frown, Zia slumped away from the kitchen, head down and looking defeated while leaving Travis alone with his mother, who gave her son a suspicious glare, that made him shrink in size.

"Travis, you didn't actually hit that poor poochyena, did you…?" Mother asked Travis, hoping that her little boy didn't change on her overnight just because the pooch and himself couldn't see eye to eye. Travis's mouth dropped, unable to believe what he was hearing. The teen made quick work of explaining himself.

"What!? Mom no! Why would I do that!? I don't know why she even thought I would...!" explained Travis as if it were for his life, the stress of taking care of wild pokemon clearly getting under his skin as he slumped toward the nearest wall. Travis held his head as he was starting to come down with a headache, his mother giving a sigh of relief that told him that she was reassured.

"I'm sorry for accusing you, Travis. I guess I am just worried for her too, you never know a pokemon's story when you meet it, you'll have to be strong for her… Help yourself to anything in the fridge, dear. I have to buy some more breakfast foods tomorrow" Mother said, soon retrieving her own plate before going to her room, where she could think to herself for a while. This was going to be a very long week for Travis, and it would hopefully last no longer than that…

Not even hungry anymore, Travis slumped to his room for hopefully some peace and quiet, little did he know the sound of a flushing toilet would be the start of yet another problem he had to clean up. Zia trotted out of the bathroom, her fur dryer than a desert as she grinned at a slightly depressed Travis. "I made a mess in there." was all she said, bluntly stated before walking back into Travis' room, or was it Zia's room now? Travis damn sure couldn't tell, but he was starting to find out what she meant when she said she made a mess, as toilet water soon puddled beneath his luckily protected feet. Good thing that water wasn't _used._ Zia might have played dirty, but at least she wasn't disgusting… After he would clean this mess up, it would be time for a shower without a doubt…

* * *

After having properly cleaned the bathroom floor and getting a well deserved shower, Travis walked back to his room with a straight face, at least feeling slightly better. Zia was back in her own spot in the corner, taking the same pair of jeans that she had been sleeping on out of Travis' hamper as her favorable bedding, which irritated Travis, as he tried to give her a sheet instead, which was tossed across the room. She acted as if nothing happened at all.

Everest and Brendan meanwhile were still chatting amongst themselves, and it was easy for Travis to tell that the both of them have ate breakfast with the lone chunk of bacon sticking on Brendan's cheek, standing out like a sore thumb that Everest was somehow able to ignore while they talked. The two were talking about whatever game that Brendan was playing on his Nintendo 3DS, Brendan paying more attention to Everest than the game itself, a truly rare sight to see that gave Travis something to grin about, as Brendan would _definitely_ be getting teased later. The vixen casually flicked the piece of bacon off of Brendan's cheek without breaking eye contact or stopping their conversation, how cute.

Travis walked over to his desk, doing his best to not bother anyone from their activities while pulling out a key from his pocket. The teen used the key to unlock one of the drawers of the desk, where he grabbed what looked to be a journal. Upon opening it, he could see what he written about what he thought about yesterday's events…

" _Hey, Journal."_

" _I didn't get to write yesterday, so this will be a tight squeeze… Today was really weird for me in more ways than one, some good, and a lot of others not so much. Turns out a lot of people were just kidnapping pokemon again, leading to the reason they disappeared. I'm starting to get the feeling that's how I met two rare pokemon, a shiny eevee named Everest, another being a rare poochyena named Zia, who were both twin sisters in need of some food. But there's a lot I didn't know about them...even now I can't say that I know everything."_

" _I need to work on keeping my entries short, so, time to work on that. Everest was a real sweetheart, and was really nice to me the whole time since we met, she was definitely more understanding than her sister...but I wouldn't call her out for it. These two pokemon had a tough life, and still do even after meeting me. Everest just wants to look out for her sister, who gives her as much stress as she gives herself it seems. I want to say that she's nice on the inside, and she didn't attack my mom or me, so maybe that can be true…? I don't know, I really like her, and I feel protective of her despite the attitude that she's shown me. I know it comes with reason though, and I just want her to get over her troubles...because I want to give the both of them the chance for a new start. I can't make her change though, she has to decide that for herself, but we'll see how things go tomorrow...it can't get too much worse... "_

 _T- XX/XX/2016_

Travis almost didn't recall actually writing any of this down last night, but he remembered that he got up in the middle of the night while the two were sleeping to do it all. He was no novelist, but he wanted to keep a diary on his life, nowadays being quite the new adventure for him. Travis tried not to think too much of it, starting to hum to himself as he started writing again.

" _What's up, Journal"_

" _I didn't know how wrong I was. After the mess that Zia made yesterday, I knew I had to call Brendan, as I believe no one else would help me out with the mess that my room was. Zia was just freaking out, so I wanted to side with her a little bit….but she keeps treating me like a butt. Leaving the toilet water running, dropping my food and suggesting I would hit her, and ruining my sheets. Everyone would probably believe I am insane to want to help this dog. I must be crazy for sure, but I think something else could be brought out of her. She hasn't completely pulled me into the dark yet, and I don't think there's any way that she could do that if she wouldn't try to harm me. They say that we can't always trust a cute face, but I have the feeling that Zia's face was only facing in the wrong direction, and maybe she regretted it. I don't have faith that tomorrow will be any better, but perhaps it's a little too early to write about today right now. I may or may not update again today."_

Travis left the rest of the page, which was about half, blank, feeling that he should have waited until the evening to start writing. But he knew living with Zia could bring problems in the day or night...Zia sure didn't seem to care…

Everest and Brendan had temporarily stopped their chat to focus on Travis, who was slouched over his desk and completely focused on scribbling in his notepad, they didn't know what it actually was from their view. Concerned with Travis' silence, the vixen stood up from her spot and walked over near his desk, before pouncing on it to see his face, making Travis freak out with a shout before he quickly closed his journal, unknowingly smacking the key of its drawer behind his own bed. No telling if Everest caught that or not. Strangely enough, his shout didn't wake Zia at all.

"Hey, Travis. What's the matter?" the vixen's ears flattened as she frowned, now even more concerned with the show he just displayed to her. She wanted an answer, and she wanted it _right now._

"H-Hi, Everest. There's nothing to worry about. I'm fine. Promise-" fibbed Travis with a smile, which Everest didn't look too convinced by, but in the end, she knew that she couldn't do anything but try to believe him. She trusted his word. The vixen softly smiled at him, before regaining her concerned face upon looking between Zia and himself, knowing that things have only gotten worse between them in the short morning that passed so far. Travis shrugged with a sigh. "Yeah, it's rough, and it will probably be for a while, but… I won't let her get under my skin." Travis told the vixen with a smirk before pumping his fist, cheering Everest up exceptionally.

"You know, Travis, you really are a strong guy on the inside. You have more patience than anyone I've ever met, not...like that really means too much because...you know... " Everest and Travis both looked at Brendan, who gave the face that he clearly had no idea what they were talking about. "...But you're the type of human that Zia needs in her life, she just doesn't see it yet. Or maybe she does, I think we both have a feeling that she's hard to figure out, but you know what I'm saying…" The vixen rubbed her cheek affectionately with Travis, making him blush a deep red, but at least he was smiling. _I have to learn to control my face with stuff like that…_

The teen wanted to tell the fox that Zia actually _was_ getting to him, especially after the earlier incident with the food. While Travis looked at the sweet and genuine smile that Everest gave him however, he reminded himself that it was mainly her that made him keep his fading faith in Zia, in hopes that she would come around, and maybe, he could see a cute smile come from her too. It was unlikely, but man should dream about what makes him happy.

"You know, she doesn't seem to bother your cousin or your mother like she does with you… She seems so focused on just you and I don't really know why…" Everest's tail flicked as she stroked her chin with a paw, not knowing that Travis' mood only lowered with the new knowledge. The boy slumped his cheek against his hand.

 _Maybe she only hates me then if that's the case…_ Travis looked over to the sleeping pooch, her body calmly rising and falling with her breaths, coming with the strange twitch and shiver every few minutes. It could have meant something else, and Travis was sure hoping for that instead. Something else of the situation was bothering Travis though…

 _She never seemed to go too low with me though… I can't stop thinking about how she could have murdered me at any point that she wanted too. Man, I'm insane for still going through with this, but she never attacked us… She never really_ _ **harmed**_ _me at all... The proper question that I have would be…_

 _Why didn't she?_


	5. Chapter 5: Throwing the Gauntlet

**Chapter 5**

Another bright yet early evening took over the skies in the Johto region. Brendan had recently decided that it was time for him to head back home so he could get ready for his classes in the morning, Travis and Everest giving him brief farewells, the eevee hoping that she could definitely see more of him in the future. Currently, Travis was helping his mother with a few chores in the garage while Everest and Zia were left inside of the boy's room by themselves.

Zia stared at her sister, the eevee humming to herself as she laid on Travis' bed, paws pressed to her cheeks with a great smile on her face that brought out her big, fluffy cheeks. She seemed happy about something for certain, and Zia already had an idea what she was happy about. It made Zia roll her eyes at the vixen.

"I don't know how you could even talk to that human, much less as long as you have." said Zia with a frown, making Everest turn to look at her, confusion painting her face as she raised an eyebrow to the pooch.

"His name is Brendan, Zia, and he was nice to me. In fact, he seemed rather harmless." Everest smiled, with Zia snorting with response.

"Well, _I_ don't believe that Travis should be trusted, and that would go for any of his little friends too…" With that, now Everest was even more confused, a question that she never got a true answer to came into the light once more. The eevee sat up and looked at her sister from atop the mattress, now sharing her frown.

"There you go starting that crazy talk. You pointed out Travis again, despite him not even being a part of this conversation. Why do you keep staying focused on him more than anyone else? It's almost as if you're…" Everest paused, seeing that Zia looked away from her as she knew _exactly_ what she would say next. With a stronger frown, the eevee's long hazel ears flattened against her head. She knew that it was better to not mention it, but she had to get an answer about this. "Hey...You. You aren't thinking of _him_ again are you…? Zachary…?"

Everest sighed, seeing that her sister was beginning to shake in place and she snarled at the mere mention of the name. The eevee didn't want to believe it, but it was very possible that Zia was connecting and comparing Travis with Zachary. Zia obviously saw something between the two, but whatever it had to be, it was beyond Everest's knowledge, as she had never met Zachary personally. Once the eevee got a clear look back at her sister, she could see that the pooch was snapping like a twig as her eyes lit with malice, though it was only short lived, as her eyes were soon tearing up with regret and depression.

Zia didn't want to hear anymore of it, as the pooch were starting to wish that she had never been born whenever she heard that name. Zia barked at her sister "I HATE THE DAMN HUMANS AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WILL STAY! I WON'T EVER TRUST THEM AGAIN!" Everest winced as Zia went into her usual corner and sobbed to herself, the pooch still shaking from the vivid memories that she experienced. The eevee didn't believe her in that sense, at least as far as Travis was concerned. She'd dare not bring up the question again as seeing that it brought her sister to experience misery, hatred, fear, and anger all at once and all over again. It was hard to trust someone with their own life, only to get stabbed in the back with every moment that they spent together. It wasn't hard to tell that Zia didn't want to go through it anymore, and everything that has happened recently only looked like a way for it to start all over.

 _Never again…_

* * *

Travis was left alone with his thoughts while handling the labor of lifting an old microwave for his mother, the microwave itself being long overdue to be thrown out since it were tossed into the garage since no one knew when. The slight strain on his muscles meant nothing to Travis, who continued to ponder the same questions that he had just a few hours ago. _Zia's got something against me for sure, but she isn't after my blood… Just what is her goal? I guess I'll never know, but I also don't know how low she's willing to go in order to reach it? More importantly, why did she suggest that I was going to hit her? I could just say she was trying to get me in trouble, but I think that it is something else…_ Being left in the dark did little favors for Travis and his anxiety, and he felt that he would never find his way back out at the rate things were going.

Travis had finally got to set the hefty microwave on the curb of the front yard, giving an exhausted sigh as T-Mom gave her lad a grateful smile. "Thanks so much, honey!" she chirped with her usual enthusiasm, giving Travis a tight hug that brought a warm smile back to his face before he hugged her back to keep the love strong. It felt great to actually be appreciated by someone at least. Mother had actually noticed the dispirited look on Travis' face earlier, and had worry for her son and his well being. She still felt guilty for thinking that he would try to hit Zia, knowing the polite and restraintful young man that she raised him up to be.

T-Mom had pulled herself away from the hug to place her hands on her son's shoulders, an expression on her face that had let Travis know immediately that she had her motherly senses tingling about him. Travis gave his mother a nervous grin, knowing that he was going to be asked a tricky question. "Travis, what's wrong?" she asked with concern. Note, she didn't ask _if_ there was a problem, because she already _knew_ there was one, and she knew that she needed to solve it.

Travis quickly racked his brain for ideas concerning what to tell her so he could get off of the hook. The teen knew that he should have been truthful to his mother, but at the same time, despite all that she did wrong to him, he didn't want to snitch on Zia and have her get kicked out or worse. _I don't even know why I care this much… Man, I gotta work on that…_

"Oh, I'm...just really hungry!" he lied with haste, his mother giving him a small smile before she laughed. That did the trick just dandy.

"Is that all!? Well, I'll go ahead and get dinner started early in that case!" Mother announced with a raised finger and a smirk, a sight that only made Travis grin before his mother quickly kissed him on the forehead. This left her son with an awkward blush across his cheeks in hopes that no one outside had seen that happen. His mother returned inside of the house with her usual smile, where she would soon start preparing for dinner. Travis thought that it was a good time for him to head back inside as well…

Now back inside of the house, Travis had pushed every bad thought to the back of his head, now trying to clear his mind entirely. While his mother was already getting busy in the kitchen after washing her hands, Travis noticed that his eevee friend was coming to greet him, as she hadn't seen him in about a few hours. Everest gave the boy a smile, very pleased to see the human boy just as he always expected.

"Hi, Everest." said Travis with a smile along with a brief wave. "You been alright in here?" The eevee nodded, her tail flicking back and forth, though not too vigorously, as she was thinking about what she was going to tell Travis.

"I guess that would depend on what you consider 'alright'. Zia's been actually a little funny… Well, more than usual I mean. I almost expected her to try and do something else around here but she hasn't. She's just been quiet, and crying…" Everest didn't want to tell him the reason _why_ Zia was acting that way, as she felt that was Zia's business to tell, and Travis knowing of it and saying something to her now would only make it worst. There was no mistake that she was seeing Zachary in Travis, and while she didn't exactly know why that was the case, she knew that it would be better to not mention it for the time being.

Travis didn't like the sound of what he heard, as a hard lump formed in his throat, which his throat was much too dry to allow him to swallow. He could at least guess that he should continue watching his back in the house, as well as everything inside of said house. Travis had told himself to keep some faith that Zia would actually come around, though he had no clue why she was crying. The poochyena took great pleasure in mentally torturing him...at least, that's what he thought. The mysteries were certainly getting more strange by the hour, but things could either go uphill from here or drop straight down, and it'd be fantasy to assume the former…

* * *

As anticipated, T-Mom had eventually finished with her dinner preparation, and wanted everybody to meet at the dining room table to share the meal together, like a happy, weird little family. Awkwardness and thick tension hung in the air above as the four housemates joined one another at the table. Torell was just there because he already gotten himself into it through his little lie. Everest wanted to be polite, and didn't mind some more well cooked _**and**_ free food, and Zia was only there because her sister forced her out of her spot in the room to eat something, but why she decided to remain there was anyone's guess. Everyone sat across from one another at the table, with Travis and his mother sitting together on one side, while Everest and Zia sat together on the other, sitting in a chair being rather strange for the two canines. It was only more strange that Zia and Travis were sitting _directly_ across from one another, but at least they didn't bother look at each other…

Ignoring the discomforting atmosphere, at least the food that Travis' mother cooked was lovely as usual, doing just enough to keep Travis from screaming. T-Mom had always loved the taste of freshly pulled pork, which filled the house with a meaty scent that no non-vegan man or canine could resist. She had also prepared some sides of simple macaroni and cheese along with various assortments of steamed vegetables such as broccoli and carrots, while these were meant for Travis and his mother, Everest had wanted to partake in a few vegetables herself, with Zia just sticking to meat, though she hadn't spoke a word to confirm if she had wanted anything else.

The feast was silent, a little longer than most of the gang would have liked as everyone ate their food. Zia looked to be gracefully eating the pulled pork on her plate to everyone else, taking very little bites of what she had while looking at nothing but her plate. The pooch meekly ate her food, a frown hiding behind the pulled pork in her teeth as she looked to be only half awake with the dull look she gave to nothing in particular. She tried to straighten up her face so her sister wouldn't draw attention toward her, but she had failed just as much as she found herself miserable. Luckily for her, no one seemed to notice her feelings at all. Zia wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible, but that wasn't going to be anytime soon if she could barely eat.

Mother chowed down as if nothing was wrong, blissfully unaware of the awkward situation between the kids, like always. Everest scrolled between the group of four awkwardly, figuring that she needed to be the one to break the tension, Travis stuffing his face with mac and cheese the moment that she looked his way. It was clear that he had no clue why this situation was even a thing, so he would be no help.

"Soooo, how's everyone's day been?" Everest smiled, Zia and Travis both trying to do their best to avoid eye contact with them, the latter's mother being the only one to greet her question with her trademark pearly white smile.

"Well, my day had been just as good as it was interesting!" T-Mom chirped, Travis stabbing his fork into his food like the Quickster before he would slam it into his mouth, thankful for not letting himself choke or letting the fork stab him in the throat.

This felt very wrong to Travis, but that didn't have much to do with Zia's presence by itself. Ghastly images and thoughts were now infecting his mind, and the more he focused on those, the more tuned out Everest and his mother's voices would become as they were slowly drowned out. Despite this, he continued to eat for the sake of everyone at the table, everyone...seated like a family. A family that he was reminded that he couldn't have anymore, and not just concerning the three women who accompanied him.

His plate empty, save for a few scraps and chunks, Travis stood up from the table, the three ladies staring at him as his chair squeaked against the wooden floor. While Everest and his mother looked to the boy with curiosity, Zia seemed to settle for staring at him blankly. Travis failed to notice any of their looks in his rush. "Well, all done here." was all the boy spat before walking over to the kitchen sink to toss his plate inside, looking more than just 'a little out of it'.

"Well, I'm going to go to my room to work on something, I'll catch you guys later." Travis wasted no time in hogging tail back to his room, everyone unaware of the thoughts on his mind as he disappeared around the hallway's bend. The only thing that his mother could think was that he _really_ had to be hungry to finish his plate so fast, and not to ask for seconds was really odd. She was sure that he had a good reason for his quick exit, and it wouldn't matter too much as she was starting to finish her plate as well, soon prompting her to stand.

"I guess I should go and fetch the mail if everyone's done here. It was short, but definitely better than nothing!" Mom said, smiling at the two girls briefly before turning to head back outside. Everest hopped out of the chair, her tail swishing as she aimed to follow her for a little fresh air. It would do her some good.

"I would love to tag along, ma'am!" Everest tried to make the mood a little more gleeful, at least so Mom wouldn't get too involved in Zia's situation, who she noticed with the same blank expression on her face as she had minutes ago. _What is she thinking about…?_ the vixen would think, knowing that the possible answers to her question seemed infinite.

"That'd be great!" Travis's mom snapped Everest out of her thoughts, telling the vixen to come along with her before they both made it out of the front door and closing it behind them, leaving Zia alone in the kitchen just that quick. No one had even noticed the fact that Zia had barely touched her own plate…

* * *

Travis had finally slouched back to his room, away from that awkward setting at last, though his mind still remained plagued with the memories that it triggered. His sigh went unheard as he slammed his rear end on the surface of the bed, the oversized cushion doing nothing to help ease his mind. He couldn't help himself but to think about it. What his family used to be and what it could have been, one mistake could have been prevented while the other nobody had control of, and another that he preferred not to speak of at all. He didn't know if it was bad that he was _still_ thinking about it, even years later.

Standing up, Travis opened the bottom drawer of his main dresser and pulled out something that he had been thinking about ever since dinner had started. A frame now gripped between his digits, he stared at the picture that remained safe inside that was starting to grow elderly with brown dirt and dust stains marking the edges. The boy went back to the bed with the picture still in hand, this time laying down so he stare at it, and once again regret what should have been over a long time ago. Four humans stuck with each other side by side, sticking together just like a family, and that's exactly what they were.

Travis could easily pick himself out of the four in the picture, as he was the youngest out of the group at only nine years old. He had just about the goofiest, but biggest grin that one could see on a child's face while another kid leaned his arm on Young T's head with just about the same smile. This kid would have actually been a teen, as he was almost sixteen years old by the time the photo was taken. He looked very similar to how Torell looked now, exception being taller and having more muscle. Another male accompanied them, looking much older than both of the boys. It was safe to say that Travis got some of his looks from him more than the teenager did. With a grin, he held an electrike puppy in one of his hands while holding a pregnant woman with his spare arm, who Travis could pick out as his mother. Travis seemed none too focused on the man behind him though, as he never prefered to talk about him. He was more focused on the teenager who accompanied him, who Everest and Zia were starting to remind him a lot of. Being there at that table with them brought back the memories of having a bigger family. Sitting the frame on the end of the bed, the boy just stared at it with a frown.

It was either odd coincidence or rotten luck that Zia had walked in and noticed Travis staring at the picture, though still not showing emotion with her entry. The poochyena walked closer to the bed, though still keeping a safe distance, and started to examine the picture as well. It seemed to be a family photo of some kind, as she could point out Travis' mother, who barely seemed to change much whenever the picture was taken and now minus the slightly bigger belly. Though her mind was void of much thought, the pooch couldn't tell herself why she cared to even look at the frame in the first place. Travis had noticed this, and was asking himself the same questions.

"The older guy next to me is my brother, if you were wondering that is." Travis gave a sigh, his expression turning from lost in thought to pure depression before he looked at Zia, whose took a step back when he did this. _W-Why is he looking at me like that…? I don't care about it!_ Retorted Zia to absolutely no one as her heart began to race at a speed that was making her body shiver involuntarily. That look seemed to give Zia some emotion once more out of the blue, though it was nothing good. That fear she once had was starting to come back full force, as she knew from experience what that type of look was going to lead too. At least she thought she did.

The pooch seemed to be going crazy in Travis' eyes, her own eyes dilating to the biggest pair of blood red eyes that the boy had ever seen while she breathed raggedly with sweat nearly spraying out of her fur. As Zia's muscles began to quiver and jitter, Travis quickly sat up and backed away, fearful that she would go mad and sick her fangs on him, and he didn't have a way to protect himself or anybody to save him.

Zia used all of her power to pounce on the sheets like a predator, minding her injured torso of course, baring her fangs while Travis' body immediately cringed toward the other side of the bed, trying to use his feeble arms to protect himself from the insane dog. It was lucky for Travis that Zia wasn't even aiming for him at all, revealed when she grabbed the picture in her maw, Travis removing his arms from his face as he noticed that he has yet to be attacked. Now, the boy found his photo frame between the pooch's powerful jaws as she snarled wildly. The boy sat back up with haste.

"H-Hey! Zia, what the heck are-" Zia whipped her head around to where she flung the frame straight into the wall, a few shards of glass shooting around the room like bullets accompanied with a hard clash as Travis instantly found his body going numb, the photo now hitting the wooden floor with a hard _clack_ before it slightly jittered from the harsh fall.

Zia hopped off of the bed, not exactly feeling accomplished, but she would do anything just to get him to stop giving that look so she at least felt relieved. She now stared at the shattered frame of the photo, ears slightly flattening for reasons that she did not know. She couldn't have been feeling guilt already, but that only seemed to be more the case as she could soon feel the intense tension coming from Travis' soul. Being a pokemon, she considered herself cursed to be able to understand the feelings of humans, and she didn't like it...especially in cases like this. The pooch turned, seeing that Travis was gritting his teeth as his sat hunched over on his knees, hissing as he temporarily failed to find his breathing. His tears dropped down on the torn sheets below him as his fist clenched, his muscles starting to bulge out of his control before he began to sob, finally breaking down. As his face remained hidden to her, Zia watched as he continued to cry and shake, and she was noticing that this wasn't nearly as good as she thought it was going to be.

 _It wasn't good at all to her at all…_

"Zia…" Travis muttered, the pooch looked up to him, unaware that her muscles were still shaking from the anxiety that she was experiencing from seeing his display. "Just...go away. Leave me alone, I'm really don't want to see you."

The poochyena was fairly surprised by that response, and planned to respond in turn. "Does this mean I can-"

"YES! YOU CAN FUCKING LEAVE! GET OUT OF MY GODDAMN HOUSE ALREADY, ZIA, I AM ABSOLUTELY SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR SHIT SO YOU'D BE DOING ME A FAVOR!" roared Travis with malice, his eyes lit and ablaze with rage as his fist tightened, the pooch actually shrinking in fear under the mere sound of his voice that made the room feel like there was an earthquake happening inside. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM, BUT I JUST WANTED TO TAKE CARE OF YOU 'TIL YOU GOT BETTER! BUT NO! YOU WANT TO BE A FUCKING CUNT AND TREAT ME LIKE AN ASSHOLE! JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE ALREADY, ZIA! GET YOUR JACKASS OUT OF HERE _**RIGHT NOW!**_ "

Zia's eyes were still dilated to the size of tennis balls as her body shook through every hatred filled word, laced with venom and fire that came from Travis' mouth. Finally finished with his rant from hell, Travis took the breaths that he didn't get to catch between his quick words before he finally looked at Zia, who stared at him as if he were the fierce Groudon himself. She was shaking so badly, because he finally had enough and told her what a brat she was… It couldn't have just been that though, no way. She had to be shaking because she now _feared_ Travis…

Travis calmed down, now expressing regret as he took a gulp. As quickly as she showed that fear however, she shrugged it off like it never happened and turned away from him, though her ears still unwillingly flattened against her skull. "Fine. Thought you'd never say it anyway..." muttered the pooch, who slumped out of the room, Everest passing her to come inside the room with a concerned expression, looking between a now broken Travis and her leaving sister, who was currently through with this human and his lies.

"What's going on? I heard the yelling from outside…" Her question was meant for both Zia and Travis, but she found that her sister was already gone out of site. They were all lucky that his mother couldn't hear how loud his voice was from outside, and that she found herself busy in a conversation with one of the neighbors, which she stressed was going to be a _long_ while.

Travis only sighed, not willing to answer that question as he laid back on his stomach, his head resting between his crossed arms. Ears flattening due to no response, Everest quickly noticed the shattered frame that was on the floor, and she had a vivid idea what had happened. The frame was ruined for sure, but the photo inside seemed overall okay, albeit a little bent on the sides. Travis wasn't exactly angry with her because she tried to destroy his photo, but it was more that he had not expected Zia to go so low just to disrespect him…

The vixen picked the picture up between her more gentle jaws, being sure to mind the broken glass it laid with before giving the picture back to Travis, who only laid it back on the bed and stared at it, Everest hopping up to join with him. "Who are they…?"

"Don't worry about the man there. You already know my mom, and that dude there happens to be my older bro. He's...not around anymore, to put short. Got caught in the middle of a gang war trying to look out for me..." Everest looked at Travis for an explanation, only to see that he was shedding another tear. "It just brings back bad memories, you know, especially when I think about my little brother… I… I can never say I met h-him, because he never left my m-mom's stomach…" Travis held his head, coming down with another migraine as he tried to keep his voice from breaking again, the vixen's mouth unknowingly opening with shock. Travis started to tear up again, now along with Everest, who tried her best to embrace Travis in her tiny arms in an attempt to comfort him before she snarled.

"Zia's gone just too far this time…!" Everest had let Travis go before hopping off of the bed with a frown, wiping the little tears that she shed off of her face. "I'm giving that dog a piece of my mind right now. I can't take the way that she treats you anymore…"

"I'm not going to lie, Everest." muttered Travis, catching the fox's attention with her ears perking up. "In some awkward way...I find you guys a lot like my brothers, what one was and what the other was most likely to be. You're just like a big sister, and you're a good one already. You take responsibility for things even if it's not your fault, you're mature, and you look out not just for Zia, but myself too. Zia's just really energetic it seems, always breaking something, doesn't exactly know what the right thing is. She _can_ be mature...just needs a little teaching." the boy chuckled weakly before sighing again, Everest frowning at him as he tried to make light weight of the situation. In his thoughts though, he didn't stop thinking about the look Zia gave him. It was because of people like him that made her fear human beings. He went and did just what he told himself he didn't want to do, and Zia had reason to hate him now more than ever.

"Don't worry about her, Travis, she's obviously missing out on something great here… Keep yourself in one piece. I'll be back within the hour. I'll talk to her and get her mind right this time…"

* * *

Zia had been walking in silence for at least ten minutes, having no idea of where to go in a city as large as Olivine, and her still injured hips didn't help her go too fast, as she had already used all of her spare energy in that fit of hers. As she kept to the shadowy streets, that's all the poochyena had been thinking about with a lowered head. Travis had actually snapped at her, in just two days, but she was supposed to want this… She had to force herself not to care in order to escape from the guilt of what she made happen.

"Ugh! Why do I even have to force it!? I shouldn't fucking care at all! Okay… So what if he was crying because of me…? He deserved it for lying to Everest and me as long as he had! He never cared about me… Pfft, just think about if he came running back… He'd be the most pathetic thing I've ever seen if he apologized after what _**I**_ just did…" Zia was just glad that she didn't have to look at his face anymore at least, her old problems would be gone for good now that she had her freedom back as a wild pokemon.

Without a lot of humans being outside, it made walking around for Zia bearable at the least, but she felt like she could take a rest after stressing her body to this degree. She'd never heal if she didn't take it easy sooner or later, as the bandages that decorated her hips did little more than restrict her movement. The bandages that _**Travis**_ had her wrapped in to keep her from bleeding out, and she was unaware that Everest had helped him to change them over the previous night. The pooch decided to take a rest behind the pokemart, now leaning against the cool, modernized outer walls, which were thankfully blanketed with shade. Her relaxation didn't last long however, as she could soon sniff her sister Everest coming around the bend, who must have been looking for her. The pooch wasn't in the mood to see anybody right now.

Zia turned to meet her eevee sister, who snarled upon seeing the black hyena, which surprised Zia enough to make her jump. "Zia, I'm fucking pissed at you! How could you do that to Travis!?" the eevee barked, Zia quickly turning her head away from the fox to avoid eye contact, not even up to showing off her pride. "Well...aren't you going to answer me? Why'd you do it!?" she asked again, growing very impatient with a frown that tugged at her lips.

"What's so special about a piece of paper…?" Zia muttered, acting as if she didn't care before Everest snarled once again, walking up to her sister before lashing her across the face with her silver tail, making the pooch yelp before she covered her now blistering cheek. Everest was shaking as she stared at Zia in pain, but she got what was coming to her. She had to know that she took things too far one way or another, and if that involved some tough love, it wasn't any fur off of her back.

"Zia, I love you, but you can be such an asshole! Did you even know that one of the people in that picture was his brother!? Did you know that he fucking got killed just for looking after Travis!?" Everest snapped, Zia now whipping her head at her in shock, a terrible feeling forming in her stomach and her entire posture dropping while Everest continued. The pooch was certainly not prepared to hear any of that, nor what was to come. "Travis can't even have siblings anymore! Did you know that his younger brother died before even birth!? Are you seeing the fucking connection here, Zia!? Are you!?"

The poochyena was now looking at the ground, forcing herself to fight her quickly forming tears but to no avail, as the salty drops were hitting the ground like acid rain. She opened her mouth to say something, but Everest stopped her, pressing her paw against her chest as she snarled once more, her fur now standing on end in her rage, truly frightening her little sister. Then, her voice started to soften, as tears starting marking her cheeks as well. "Travis felt really close to us, he looked at us like he did to his own blood, but you treat him like dirt for no reason when he did nothing but look out for you and me… Zia… I…" Taking her paw off of Zia, Everest turned away from her, depression painting her face as she looked at Zia from the corner of her eye, it was a look that made Zia's heart feel like led and drop into the depths of her stomach. "No words can say how disappointed I am with you… You know this is what mom didn't want to happen with us. But you just can't ever trust anyone...can you, Zia? Not even me…"

Zia tried to reach to her sister, only to be met with another lash from her tail that quickly made her withdraw her now stinging paw. Everest shook her head at the pooch before she started to walk away. "If you wish to alone so badly...you got exactly what you wanted… See you later…" Everest had fled back into the streets, where Zia had cried out for her and tried to chase her.

"E-Everest wait!" But she was already gone…

Slumping against the nearest building that she could find where she couldn't have been caught sight of by humans, the hyena started to cry again. "This...t-this isn't what I wanted… I just wanted to feel safe… Away from them…" Her own sister couldn't even look her way anymore. It had to be Travis' fault! "No… I won't blame him anymore… I'm an idiot. I gotten myself into this mess… Everything was my fault from the beginning. Damn! Why the fuck do I have to be like this! I just… I hate myself more than anyone…" Zia could only wonder why she didn't see the connection earlier, now going to sulk to herself in a quiet place where she could be to herself. Even if she didn't know that information prior, she knew that she shouldn't have done it, to upset Travis to such a fragile state.

She felt like more of an ass than she ever had. The pooch wanted to apologize, she would do anything to apologize to Everest and Travis, but there was no way that Travis wanted anything to do with her now. It was too late for a comeback, and now she was left to fend for herself once again in the world beyond a cozy home, only that now she had her injuries to worry about on top of other things. The pooch gave a sniff as she dried her tears, walking into a dark and cold alley with little to no atmosphere as she was finally beginning to realize everything that she had lost.

"Even if I didn't trust him… I could have at least acted a lot better toward him. Damn…"

The pooch sat down in the middle of the alley, content with just being there alone and depressed until she would no doubt die from the starvation that she would suffer. She didn't deserve love nor food, at least she thought she didn't. She didn't care anymore about it anymore. She just wanted to be alone, but the brief clicking of claws on concrete behind her proved that she wouldn't get that luxury.

Zia quickly stood up and looked for the source of the sound. She couldn't see whoever or whatever it was, but her nose knew damn well someone were stalking her now. "Who the fuck are you!? Get out here! I'm in no mood for these games!" the pooch snarled, only receiving a chuckle from the darkest reaches of the alley. The pooch snarled in the general direction of it, now seeing that a pokemon were lurking behind the dumpster a couple of feet away from her.

"You're bold, little one, but I think that you are no place to talk like that to me, sadly. You do know that I have claimed this area in my name? You've dug your own grave." the voice giggled, sounding much more mature than Zia's, though still having its ring of femininity to it.

"I don't fucking care what this area is, so I'll ask again! Who are you!?" Zia was starting to shake in place again, her fear getting the best of her as she saw the large shape of the beast that lurked just out of clear sight. The pokemon only giggled at her again, taunting her as if she were a mere joke.

"So I suppose you _do_ want to take this up with me personally then? Not like you had a choice in the matter once you stepped in here, but I do like a little drama every now and again…" The pokemon finally stepped out of the murky shadows, revealing its true form to Zia under the white lamp from one of the surrounding buildings. The pooch gulped as she looked over her foe, who looked nearly twice her height and weight. She stood on four legs just like her and was canine just the same, but she looked far more intimidating than most pokemon that Zia had ever met. White fur and hair covered the majority of her body save for her face, which gave a crooked yellow smile along with her blade of a tail. That fur was mangy and caked with dirt, from how long she lived out in the streets, and her blood eye eyes seemed to mimic her wicked smile in the hunt for fresh blood. Her long claws hooked into the concrete as if it were no problem as her horn reflected the lamp's light, giving a powerful sheen that threatened to blind Zia. If anything, she surely looked like a formidable opponent that wasn't going to be easy to get away from.

"My name's Dawn, just so you know the name of your killer, sweetie. Now, should I make your death quick and painless, or are you one of those freaks who prefer to feel my claws digging and twisting into your ribs." Dawn sung with an almost innocent voice, Zia backing away from the insane monster, but not missing the chance to retort.

"You cut the crap, bitch! I didn't do anything to you so leave me be!" Dawn only laughed at her comment.

"Hehehe, sometimes, we pokemon just like causing trouble on purpose, even if our victim didn't do anything to us prior. I just happen to be one of those very wicked animals, and by the look you have on your face, I see that you are one yourself!" the absol barked with pride, clapping her paws mockingly at Zia's frown and flattening ears.

 _She...she's actually right. The twisted bitch…_ The pooch still kept up her warning growl, despite knowing that she couldn't ever hope to compete against such a powerful opponent like an absol in her condition, nor could she escape. Zia knew that she'd be on the ground and pushing up daisies if she couldn't find a plan to counter her in time. This creature wasn't going to let her go without spilling her blood…

" _ **Now, sweetie. How about we see which one of us is the more wicked~**_ "


	6. Chapter 6: Hidden Feelings

**AN: Hi everybody, it's me, the writer! I just want to thank everybody who has stuck with me so far through my horrible update schedule to get this far into the story. Pathetic that I've only made it to chapter six, I know. I seriously want to thank the followers I have to this story, as I wasn't expecting this small story to get as much support as it did, even if it isn't that much to you guys. Welcome to the finale is all I should say next. Yes, I said it,** _ **finale**_ **. I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **Chapter 6**

At least twenty minutes have passed since Everest had left her sister to bite the dust, the silver vixen now crawling through Travis' window, the boy having left it just ajar enough for her to sneak back in unnoticed. The eevee had came inside with limp ears and a not so positive attitude, having plenty of reason for feeling the way that she did.

Everest noticed that Travis was still laying on his bed, looking to not have moved since she left, besides turning on his back. The boy stared at the pale blue ceiling, arms and legs sprawled out across the sheets and looking to be lifeless. Despite still feeling her bile toward her poochyena sister, the eevee still was concerned for Travis overall, and she took a few steps toward his bed with a frown.

"Hey, Travis… Are you gonna be okay…?" The teen's body didn't give much response to her presence outside of a simple nod, as he still kept his eyes trained on the ceiling. This response would only upset Everest further until he finally said something.

"...I'm still thinking about it…" he muttered, the photo that Zia had threatened to destroy laying just next to his feet, the boy not bothering to look at it any longer. Everest hopped on his mattress, sitting down next to his face and licking his forehead in an attempt to comfort him. This didn't do much for him, as his expression didn't change.

"You mean my sister letting her rage out on you?" asked the eevee, thinking that she knew the answer before Travis shook his head, which surprised the vixen as he muttered "No," a few times under his breath. Everest cocked her head, still frowning in her befuddlement. "Then...what is it?"

"Honestly, when I snapped at Zia...she gave me a look that I wasn't expecting to see from someone like her… She was...terrified of me… At least that's the way I saw it..." Travis answered, only surprising Everest even further. Before the vixen could make a move to say anything to him, the teen continued. "With how dirty she did me, I thought I would be over it, but I'm not… I just keep thinking about that face." Travis turned his head so he could face his friend, the eevee softly petting his head to try and comfort him some more as a tear dribbled from his eye. "...I know I feel more guilty than I actually should, but I don't want to keep Zia out there alone, especially with her condition. I still don't know what's out there, nor what could happen to her…"

Her eyebrows narrowing at the mention of her sister, Everest withdrew her paws from Travis' head with a glare. "I'm just sick of her attitude at this point…" the eevee spat. "Maybe living in that cold world again the way she is will finally give her some common sense… I don't get her sometimes, if not all of the time."

Travis looked up to Everest, who was practically standing over him as she looked up to the ceiling, her tail softly swishing behind her, though not from any happiness. "Man, you wouldn't believe me by now if I told you again that she used to be very sweet, I could even say she was fond of people too… Then… Well, I guess we grew up, and a lot of things happened to the both of us involving humans… I still won't blame every human for making her act this way, because she needs to have a more forgiving heart if she really wanted to find change. Maybe getting a taste of her own medicine would make her appreciate what we have..."

The eevee sighed before Travis sat up, turning to face her way before crossing his legs and he brought his hands together, looking as if he were contemplating something. "Everest, you do care about your sister, right…?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice, Everest now looked at the boy as if he were an idiot.

"Of course I do! We've looked out for each other since forever ago! It's just that...I really want to knock her a good one sometimes when she acts like this… If anything, I just don't want to think about her right now, after all of this…" The eevee closed her eyes, tears coming down her cheeks as she remembered their talk behind that pokemart, and the way she used her tail to slash at her sister. Truth be told, she hated herself for harming her sister that way, but she had to knock some sense back into her, somehow… "Yeah, I guess I'm worried about her too, but she needs to learn her lesson. I just hope she won't bark up the wrong tree and get herself killed. No telling where she could be by now…"

Travis frowned at Everest's words, and his organs were tying knots in his stomach as the burning image of Zia's corpse sat clear as daylight in his mind. _God, I don't want to see Zia dead… Maybe Everest just has more confidence in her sister than I do...but she's still hurt, and she can't defend herself if she gets into trouble… Even if I look like an idiot for going after her I can't end it on this note!_

Thankful for still being dressed, Travis pounced off of his bed with springs in his feet before he went into his closet and grabbed his boots, quickly getting his feet inside and tying the shoelaces in familiar knots. Everest frowned at Torell with an irritated glare, knowing that he obviously didn't get her point to let Zia learn her lesson.

"Now, Travis…" called Everest, catching the teen's attention, who now turned his head so he could see her irritated expression. "Please don't tell me that you are planning to do something stupid and go after her after what she did to you…" Travis' face was left as a blank slate, only thinking about what she said for a few moments before answering her.

"Well, my stupidity got me this far, I guess…" he told her, the eevee now walking over to the bed's edge where she could meet the boy, now snarling at him as her fur stood on end. Travis found himself unphased by the eevee's display of anger.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Travis!? My god! You can at least show a _**little**_ backbone to Zia, but I know you won't. You don't have to hit her or anything rash, but literally everything else is better than just sitting back and taking the abuse like you do! Man, you really are naive, Travis…" ranted Everest, her ears now going limp again as she stared at the sheets beneath her paws. When she looked up, she noticed Travis with a smile on his face, a weak one, but it was still a smile and nothing less.

"You wouldn't have your sister anymore if it weren't for my naivety, Everest." Travis informed, still keeping his smile as he noticed Everest start to shake, growling under her breath as new fresh tears flooded down her cheeks. She tightened her eyes shut as Travis knelt down and hugged the fluffy vee. She hated to admit the fact that he was right. He saved her sister's life when she threatened to die from the blood loss from that fight that was only days ago.

"I'm so sick of having to fight the both of you, Travis…" Everest muttered before embracing Travis with another hug. "You're the most naive person I know...but you are a really good person, and pretty much the best friend that I've ever had…" The eevee and the boy smiled through their hug, the both of them soon withdrawing from each other. Everest now wiped the tears from her face.

"...Honestly, I almost want to believe Zia actually felt bad for what she did…" Everest told Travis, the boy now giving her a look of curiosity that told her he could use some more details. If that were actually true, then he and Zia could probably make up and try to fix what were already broken. Though a slim possibility, Travis saw no reason to not hope for the best. "She didn't fight me back at all when I told her off about the damage she did, and she already looked to be depressed when I met her for some reason… She looked to be even more out of it once I left her… Maybe she's starting to understand what she's done, but that's just a guess. I don't know. If you're going to look for her, I would start around that pokemart since that was the last place I saw her. I still think that she should learn her lesson, so I'll wait for you to come back…"

"No problem, Everest, I understand." spoke Travis with a nod before he made way toward his bedroom door. "I'll find out what I can, but I want to check on her. I'll see you in a little while. Just get some rest until I get back." Everest nodded to his demand, now curling up on his sheets as the boy decided that it was time to start his solo search…

* * *

Zia had little choice but to stand her ground against this crazy bitch of an absol, Dawn still giving her prey a wicked yellow smirk as Zia weighed her chances that obviously were not in her favor. It was certain to this pooch that she wouldn't stand a chance without the use of her physical strength. Zia took a deep breath, her violet eyes following the absol as she crept circles around her, taunting her with that stupid smirk that would not go away.

"So. I'm curious enough. What's a little bitch like you doing out here anyway?" jeered the absol, earning a snarl from Zia, who crouched down into her battle ready stance, claws and fangs at the ready and mimicking blades. Dawn only scoffed in response, not being able to help but wonder if this was meant to intimidate her. "Hehehehe, I wouldn't go wasting your breath, little pup."

Zia's ears flattened as the absol's claws pointed at her hips and torso, which were still wrapped by those damn bandages. There wasn't any fooling with this street mutt. "I'll admit that I wouldn't expect to see a domestic cunt like you here on the streets, you're wrapped like a nice little christmas present." Her taunt only boiled Zia even further, the absol only licking her chops.

"I am not fucking domesticated!" retorted Zia with dilated eyes, the pooch prideful as always before Dawn stopped in front of her, and only gave her a mockful expression.

"My, I'm sure your trainer is worried about their little pup who decided to run away. It's a shame that they'll never get to see you again, but that's how it is out here~" she whispered, Zia's ears flattening again at the mere mention of Travis, even if he wasn't her trainer at all. The pooch didn't want to think about Travis at all, and bring back her guilt and depression on top of her fear and anger. Nonetheless, Zia knew that there was no way that Travis was coming for her, and even if he were stupid enough to try, he had no clue where she was. Everest probably wouldn't tell him, at least that what Zia thought, as she figured that she drove the eevee up the wall this time and that she wouldn't come for her either.

Did she want to be saved?

She wasn't sure if she wanted to answer that question.

"Okay, you're pretty boring to talk to, so I guess I should just put you in your place already." snickered Dawn, couching down and grinding her claws against the concrete, preparing to take the offensive.

The poochyena barely had time to ready herself before the dirty white canine rushed at her with burning quickness. Zia gathered the little energy that she had into her muscles to jump out of the way before Dawn's claws could tear through her fur, slashing through the concrete instead. With shards of concrete scattering around them, Zia hissed as her hind legs hit the ground from her sidestep. Her entire backside burned as if flames were eating at her hips and thighs, having used too much of her muscle in her attempt to dodge her attack. As Zia stumbled to try and catch her footing, all four of her legs quivered beneath her. The pooch was too focused on her pain to see Dawn coming at her with a powerful headbutt straight into her side.

Zia yelped out in pain with her eyes forcing them rip open as she skidding across the ground and landed on her back, her bandages slightly tearing by hitting the concrete and causing her to bleed. The pooch whimpered and held her side, her ribs feeling as if they have crunched from the harsh attack, but she had no time to lick her wounds as she found that Dawn was rushing at her and readying another slash.

Thinking on her feet, Zia quickly sat up and lashed her claws just as the absol prepared to pounce on her, successfully cutting into her dirty white chest and causing her blood to fly. The absol quickly hopped back from Zia, giving a cold snarl as Zia quickly got back on her feet and backed away in hopes of putting some distance between them. The poochyena could barely catch her breath, her heart now pounding out of her chest as the realization hit that she was already becoming fatigued from the battle.

Looking at her side that was just attacked, Zia could tell that she was badly bruised underneath those bandages, as it stung her like a bee to even twist her body in any way. She had no choice but to keep pushing herself further however, as she knew that she could never survive this fight if she didn't try to protect herself.

The orange evening sky was finally starting to darken into a noticeable purple, and the moon became visible behind a few lone clouds that still lingered over town. The moonlight was soon to shine down into the alley along with the streetlights, Zia still struggling to catch her breath as Dawn glared daggers into the pooch. The absol's playful attitude was now replaced with a bitter, yet burning malice, and nothing would satisfy her until she had that pooch's bloody bones in her claws.

"You shouldn't expect to leave here alive… Not after you shed my blood and ruined my precious white coat, you disgusting mutt!" Dawn snarled, now baring her fangs as her thick blood ran down her dirty white mane from her new gashes. If she wasn't serious before, Zia could tell that she was damn serious now, and she had little energy to defend herself against her rage. The poochyena's pride was breaking down, with her attack now revealed to do nothing more than anger her insane foe. It looked to finally be the end for the poochyena.

Like a smart poochyena would, Zia finally attempted to run and find some help, using what little energy she had in her poor legs to dash away from the wicked creature. Even if she were to somehow find help, she knew that she wouldn't find it in time, this still didn't stop her.

Seeing that her prey tried to hobble away from the fight, Dawn smirked and ran after her, quickly catching up behind the poochyena. Zia gasped and tried to give her a warning bark, but found the absol's head ramming into her backside. Zia yelped again, the collision being powerful enough to fling her across the alley like a slingshot and smack-dab into the side of a dumpster, where she made a hard hit against the metal where it made a loud _clang_.

The poochyena's jaw was forced open as she desperately tried to catch her breath, now squirming like an earthworm as her body burned all over from the impact with the dumpster. Tears involuntarily leaked from her eyes as she forced them shut, the pain being too much for her body to handle as the disaster pokemon approached over her, grinning wickedly. The pooch slightly opened one eye to see her murderer, her face now covered by darkness now being out from under the lamps. She could only see her disgusting yellow teeth, and those blood red eyes. So this was the way that it was going to end…

 _I deserve what's coming to me, I guess…_ the poochyena thought with a slight snivel as she poorly attempted to not show weakness to this bitch of a pokemon. _I guess I see what it's like to really be all alone now…_

* * *

The flashlight of his PokeNav did little to help Travis on his search for Zia in the big city. Now that it was nightfall, that black pooch could camouflage almost any and everywhere, in every shadow and every corner. _She couldn't have gotten that far the way she is… But I didn't see her around that market either…_ A black hole was eating away at Travis' stomach as the night grew chilly, with gusts of wind howling into the sky. Nobody was outside on this night with very unsettling atmosphere, and this gave Travis a horrible feeling in his heart…

She could be anywhere by now, but Travis barely had much in terms of leads if she weren't around the pokemart like Everest said. Travis did actually hope that Zia learned some lesson from being out here in the streets, but he didn't want her to go through hell and back just to make his point. Despite that, he still wasn't sure if he wanted to bring her back, especially if she still continued to give him the cold shoulder…

"ZIA!" he called out again through the empty streets, getting no response just like the other six times. The poochyena was either nowhere around, trying to avoid him, or she just couldn't answer for whatever reason.

Only twenty minutes after he left the house and Travis was already burning himself out with his concern, on top of running around near the entire town. Any curve, any crook and turn, behind any building, that poochyena would use every cover she had just to keep out of sight in a city full of people, especially if she truly feared humans like himself like he was starting to believe. He hoped that to not be the case.

The boy leaned against the wall of a brick building, all of the buildings starting to look alike at this point as the night grew even colder, as if winter came back with a vengeance. The boy threatened to turn into an icicle with the lack of a jacket, and the boy was believing that it was time he gave up. _Maybe I should try again in the morning or something, but I still don't want to leave her out here and-_ The sudden yelp of a pokemon instantly snapped Travis out of his thoughts, that yelp followed by several high pitched whimpers. Standing straight and now at full attention, Travis figured that was the sound of a canine pokemon, and whoever it was apparently found themselves some in deep shit, as those screams sounded as if they were choking on their own blood.

The teen looked toward the direction of the sound, having run a full lap around the city, he found himself not too far from the pokemart again. How very ironic. That scream sounded as if it were a block or two down from the market, and the opening to an alley was the first thing that the boy noticed.

"Shit, no time to lose!" the boy barked, dashing down to the alley and drifting around the bend in hopes of finding Zia. Whatever trouble that pokemon got themselves into, would soon be his own problem next…

Zia shot out another shrill cry as Dawn slashed into her side again, the poochyena's blood spitting on both of their faces as her torn bandages were now stuck in clumps against her now bloody coat, marked with a deep, thick red. The pooch's skin was exposed and vulnerable once more with blisters through her cuts, and she shivered as another chilly wind blew across her bloody skin. Zia tried to reach her paws out and push toward the ground to get herself to stand up, but she could not find the strength to move anymore. Her energy was fading away fast.

The alley absol took too much pleasure in watching Zia attempt to save herself during her struggle, only being able to squirm her body around in the process. Zia tried to catch her breath, only to be once again butchered at her ribs, and all she could do was cough up more of her precious blood. The poochyena barely attempted to move anymore, settling for slightly closing her eyes as she was near the point of losing consciousness. She was too exhausted to fight her off now, and she knew that her death was near.

Zia looked up to Dawn, the absol licking her poochyena blood off of her claws and face, the sick dog savoring every drop of the precious fluid that gave her life.

"Anything you wanna say now before I slit your throat for good, mutt?" sneered the absol with a giggle as she watched Zia's blood form a small pond under her soon to be corpse. Zia's body refused to move, and she barely paid any mind to what the canine was even yapping about. The only things on her mind were her sister and that human, Travis… The two closest things she had that she treated so poorly…

 _...I miss my sister…_ the poochyena said to herself, remembering that positive attitude that her eevee sister brought to almost every situation. She was too much of an optimist in her eyes, even now, but she secretly adored that positive attitude. Ever since Zia and Everest were pups, the poochyena always aspired to be just like her older sister, but she was always a negative pooch, and it only grew worse as they grew older. She wanted to hug Everest, and tell her how sorry she was for screwing up and acting the way that she did. She wanted the chance to change, but she thought deep in her heart that this was only karma paying her a visit, and it was the way it was meant to be…

 _The human…. Travis…. I want to be proven wrong about him, at least one more time… As much as I want to say sorry to my sister, I need to say it to him even more…._ Zia's mouth began to close, settling for breathing through her nostrils, and they were weak breaths at that. The poochyena knew that now was a very shitty time to think about these things, but she wanted to be saved. Her pride no longer fought her rational thoughts. Zia did not want to die, even going as far as to say she wanted to see Travis show up out of nowhere and save her. _God, I never wanted to be more wrong about anything in my life… I got what I deserved but please don't let me die, Travis… I… actually miss you…_ The pooch couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat from her thoughts, almost as if she threatened to puke on herself. She thought she sounded like the biggest cunt who ever lived, but she rather be labeled that than be labeled deceased. It's how she truly felt, but she didn't have much more time to think about it…

Her body now numb, Zia thought that it were too late to try to save anyone, including herself, but she still couldn't stress herself enough how badly she wanted to tell Travis that she was sorry. Maybe this was indeed karma, but she never took it to this degree, harming him the way that Dawn was doing to her. She never wanted to do that to him, as tough as she acted, she couldn't bring herself to shed the blood of someone she may have cared about a little…

The poochyena's eyes slowly shut, her muscles, ears, and tail going limp and unmoving. The absol only smirked, closing her mouth before spitting on the pooch's lifeless body. "Rest in peace, bitch."

"Hey, fuck off!" barked a familiar voice behind the two, though this voice wasn't familiar to Dawn in the slightest. She turned around in her confusion to meet a very pissed off Travis, his hands now tightening into fists as he stared at Zia's body, finding it limp and unmoving before he glared back to the absol. His body was shaking out of his control with pure rage as tears leaked over his cheeks. "What the hell did you do to her!?"

The absol only smirked at the boy. He couldn't possibly be serious with confronting her so boldly, without a pokemon of his own to boot. "Who do you think you are, little boy?" she snickered, taking a step closer to a still shaking Travis. Truth be told, Travis could barely _think_ at all now that he caught sight of Zia's corpse on the concrete.

That poochyena was an asshole to him in every sense of the word, he could admit that with ease, but she didn't deserve to die! She was somehow still considered family to him, and seeing her body bleed out from this murder only boiled Travis' own blood like lava. Travis knew that he had to finish this quickly, and not get himself killed in the process. He doubted that escape was an option.

Travis had did his best to relax his mind and his body as this predator of an absol circled around him, grinning with crooked yellow fangs that disgusted Travis to look at, but he had to keep his eyes on her nonetheless. It was far too late for regrets, so Travis focused on keeping his body facing her direction at all times, lest he wanted to get cut in the throat. Travis had no experience in actually fighting a pokemon, but being outside in the wild as much as he was, he knew how to defend himself a little bit, as well as fight back. He had to use his wits and his knowledge on this pokemon if he wanted to get out of this bout alive, and that wouldn't mean he could leave unscathed.

Predictably, the absol quickly came at him with a physical tackle attack, Travis knowing that an absol's main strength lied in their physical abilities and not their specials. Despite this knowledge, Travis quickly noticed that the absol was too close to dodge, so the boy shielded himself with his arms before Dawn rammed into him, her claws digging into both of his sides which caused the boy to cry out as he could feel himself being punctured. Her claws twisted and played around with his innereds as he was forced on his back. The boy gritted his fangs and squirmed under the absol as she gave him a playful giggle.

"You know, you're a bit too cute to be on this side of town…" she giggled again, the teen fighting the tears in his eyes to glare at her in question of what the hell she was talking about. "Perhaps... I may not have to kill you if you agree to _satisfy my needs_ , you know, forever, hehehe…"

As naive as Travis could be sometimes, he could tell what the absol meant by that, and he had heard enough about the subject of rape for a lifetime.

Travis growled at the absol, thinking fast and ramming his skull into her own, making the absol yelp and back off, bringing her claws out of Travis' sides and making him give a sharp yelp in response. Despite the pain in his stomach, the boy quickly backed away from the absol and held his now bruised forehead while his opponent was doing the same, also having a bruised forehead under her fur.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck that hurts!" the boy grumbled under his breath as Dawn ran up to him and clawed at his cheek, causing the teen to scream as his blood went flying onto the ground.

"You fucking cunt! How dare you deny-" A nasty uppercut under her chin clamped her muzzle shut before she could finish her sentence. Now with a bruised forehead _and_ chin, the absol snarled at Travis as he stood back to his feet, attempting to catch his breath as he was already losing more energy than he expected. Her eyes were lit with malice, glaring daggers into Travis' very soul as it became clear that he would not last in this battle long if he didn't find some way to end it quickly…

Upon the faintest scent of having Travis nearby, Zia had forced herself to keep from passing out. She was forced to watch Travis struggle to catch his breath as he fought what should have been her fight, and he was going to get killed. _Why is he doing this…? Why is he taking my punishment….?_ Zia grumbled, barely able to speak actual words under her breath. Yes, she did actually want to be saved but she damn sure didn't want to see Travis get murdered in the process. _He really is an idiot… A nice idiot…_ The poochyena couldn't help but smile at the thought of Travis coming to rescue her, but she was forced to frown when she found Dawn once again pinning him down with a vengeful snarl.

Zia knew that she was weak and feared killing herself from the strain she put on her body, but there was no way in hell she could watch Travis get harmed right in front of her by some junkyard cunt. She never planned to lay a paw on him this whole time, and she damn sure wasn't going to let this bitch do so either.

Travis could only brace his body by cringing as the absol raised her claws and threatened to attack him with another slash. Travis was about to scream for help before he found a sphere of dark energy, assumably a shadow ball attack, hitting his attacker dead on and knocking her off of him and slamming into the wall. The teen took the new opportunity and quickly stood up, now looking for the source of the shadow ball attack.

Though her eyes were half lidded, and her breaths were harsh, Zia was still hanging in there and actually watching out for Travis. It was quite a pleasant surprise.

The poochyena didn't make a habit out of using her shadow ball, leading her to forget that she even had the move until she saw that Travis was going to get himself killed. The teen quickly scurried over to the battered poochyena and knelt down to meet her, resting his hand on her head. Her body looked to be growing cold…

"Zia… Are you okay…? ...I know that's a stupid question...but, you know… I still have to ask…" Travis asked the pooch, watching as her head slightly turned so that she could face him. She had tears in her eyes as she saw his face, even if it were a little blurry on her end, she hated to see his blood painting his body.

"T-Travis… I-" Zia found Travis' finger on her lips before she could finish her sentence, making her slightly blush with a little embarrassment. If her ears could stand, they would have certainly went limp again.

"We'll talk about that later, Zia. I just want to go home already…" said Travis, both Zia and himself looking back toward Dawn, who was starting to come to from Zia's unexpected special attack. The poochyena had put all of her reserve power into that shot, and it still barely punished the mutt.

"You've...got to finish her, Travis. Kill her… I have no more energy to assist you with another attack, and we both know that you can't hope to just knock her out. She'd come after us after she recovered… There's no other way." Travis frowned at Zia's plea, she knew that he didn't want it to come to that, but they would certainly die if he didn't kill this absol right here and now…

As the two of them noticed Dawn creeping toward them, nostrils steaming in her rage like a hot teapot, Travis knew that it was far too late to think of an alternative. He had no choice.

With no time to think, Travis used all of his strength to whip his body around and throw himself onto the absol, his assault a lot weaker than he would have hoped for due to losing too much energy. The absol smirked as the boy practically threw his life into her paws and she drilled her claws into his back. Travis screamed and squirmed in pain as the grip he would have had around her neck considerably weakened.

He fucked up too easily, and now he was at the absol's mercy as she pressed her claws deeper into his back, now tickling at his bones as his blood leaked onto her paws.

Zia tried to shout his name, but only could cough instead, blood from her throat now spitting on the concrete again. "Oh don't worry, sweetie, you're gonna be next!" Dawn sung to the poochyena, making Zia snarl at her and want to give her a good stabbing, though like she said before, she had no strength to help Travis nor herself any further. He had to find the strength to overpower her himself.

Hearing Zia's voice, even if it were just her cough, easily caught Travis' attention. Despite barely being able to think with having what felt like hooks being dug into his back, he knew that the absol would surely kill Zia for real if she got away with killing him first.

Travis was finally getting some respect from the poochyena, and now she was finally regretting everything that she had done to him and she wanted the chance to change for the better. He couldn't let her down now, and he couldn't let Everest down either. What would her sister do finding that the both of them got murdered out here? What would Brendan do without his big cousin around? What would his mother do if she had lost her last son...? He couldn't let Zia die! He couldn't let himself die!

He had to keep going, no matter what! For everyone!

Travis didn't bother to fight the absol's claws, knowing that it was a lost cause as he literally seemed hooked. Instead, Travis opened his jaws and clamped down on Dawn's muzzle, causing the pokemon to cry out before violently ripping her claws out from Travis' back.

Travis hissed as he was left with six large gashes into his back that ruined his shirt with puddles of his thick blood as the absol backed away and held her now bleeding muzzle that had teeth marks denting it. "How dare you, you fucking caveman!" barked Dawn, keeping her eyes shut as she continued to hold her muzzle, at least hoping that her new prey would stay down from the damage that she caused his back, but little did she know that Travis was planning to kiss his innocence goodbye.

Travis fought against the pain that lit his body in what felt like flames to slam himself into the absol and get her on her back, where he knew she would be near defenseless. The teenager locked his legs around her torso as if he were straddling her before locking his digits around her throat hidden within her large mane and applied pressure to all ten, successfully digging his fingers to shut her airway.

Dawn flailed her body like a fish out of water as she tried to desperately catch her breath and push the human off of her, but to no avail, as Travis forced his eyes shut and snarled so he would not have to watch, nor hear her choke and gasp under him.

The absol stared wildly into his screwed shut eyes, her own eyes dilated like pellets as she tried to claw at him again, but her limbs were much too weak, and she only succeeded to paw at him in an unsettling soft way, which only made Travis press on her throat with more pressure until he could feel her body finally become numb and lifeless, her paws soon falling off of his arms.

Travis slowly opened his eyes to stare at the dead pokemon under his pin before releasing his fingers. He had just killed a pokemon… He couldn't believe it that he was capable of it...but, it mattered none, as long as Zia and himself could keep their lives. It was a sacrifice that he found himself quickly getting over…

Standing up off of the absol's lifeless body, Travis stumbled over to Zia weakly, the poochyena now resting a paw on his foot as he managed to smile at her. "...Thank you…" he whispered, a cough following before he knelt down again so he could see Zia better.

"...For what…? You shouldn't be thanking me for anything, especially since I started all of this…" said Zia, barely able to look Travis in the eye. Here he was, he had saved her life just as she had hoped for, but she couldn't help but feel inferior to him now that he once again saved herself from dying. She had nothing to be thanked for, she should have been thanking him.

"Eh, while true...You still saved my skin back there with that shadow ball attack of yours...it was pretty awesome! And here I thought you hated my guts… You were looking out for me, so I have a lot to thank you for… Anyway, come on, let's go home already." the boy told her with a smile, scooping Zia in his arms before weakly walking out of the alley and toward home, which was closer than the pokemon center was, so it would do until the morning. Though falling silent, Zia made herself comfortable in his hold and rested in his arms…

* * *

"I need to wrap the both of us up before we both bleed out and die…" said Travis with a weak chuckle, the boy having walked with Zia in his arms for a couple of minutes as they neared home. Zia hadn't responded to any of Travis' attempts at small talk at all, possibly too tired to or she felt too awkward to do so. The two decided to settle on staying quiet, looking up at the stars of the night sky as Travis' house came into view. Almost home after all of this chaos…

Zia opened her once shut eyes and looked at the boy, the both of them wearing blank expressions on their faces as they were in deep thought. "...Travis… Why…?" she whispered, a little on the shy side before Travis looked down to her, silently asking what did she mean. "After I pulled the last straw,...you still go out and get yourself near killed over me… I don't understand it…" The poochyena shook her head and started to tear up. "You should have just let me die, I didn't want you to hurt yourself. Damn you…"

Travis was silent as the pooch started to cry to herself. He had finally had enough of her crap and told her to get lost, but he still came back for her, for some reason that she could never hope to understand. She had nothing rude to say to Travis this time, and she would never turn her nose at him should he decide to answer her. She started to growl under her breath as the two of them approached Travis' familiar backyard, she was frustrated of not being able to understand what went through his head. He showed her kindness, too much without asking for anything in return, not even for her to treat him any better. She was tired of not understanding him…

Travis stopped walking once they have reached the porch, and he frowned at the pooch. "Zia…" he tried to say before the canine barked at him in anger.

"I treated you like you were scum, Travis! You have to at least get me back!" barked Zia, Travis opening his mouth so he could try to talk to her, but she saw this coming and barked again. "I don't fucking care, Travis! Do something! Anyth- Yeep!" the pooch yelped before she brought her paws on her now stinging nose, thanks to a flick from Travis' finger.

"That's all I'm going to do, live with it." the boy whispered before he sat down on the porch to catch a breather, careful not to lean his injured back on any surface. Zia had pushed him away and started to sob, glaring into his eyes as she sat in his lap, barely wanting to force her body to move.

"W-Why'd you have to go and care so damn much…? You make things v-very complicated, T-Travis…" blubbered the pooch through her tears. The poochyena hated to be wrong, but at least Travis could see that she was coming to terms with the facts.

It hurt Zia just to care for Travis, but she already knew that it was too late to stop that from happening, and no one could guess how much or how long she actually had a secret liking for him. She didn't know how to express that admiration, and on top of the fear of being betrayed, it lead her to act the way that she did. She never trusted Travis at first for certain, but she surely knew that the chaos that she caused in his home went two levels too far, and she finally noticed that she lost sight of what she was even trying to prove to begin with.

Zia found herself crying because she actually did care for Travis, now, more than ever, being stuck with foreign feelings that she wasn't sure if she wanted to have. Despite that, she wasn't ashamed of having those feelings, as she was more ashamed of herself, and the bad name that she brought upon her family.

"Look, Zia… I don't know what to think of you right now, but I still consider you family, so, you bet I'll keep making things complicated. It's up to you if you want to embrace that…" Travis told her, Zia now shaking her head and looking down at his bleeding stomach.

"...You're a dumbass…" Her voice was soft and weak, telling Travis that she didn't even want to have malice in what she said. "I don't deserve your care. I'm just an ugly, useless mutt who did nothing but wrong you… Don't even look at me…" Zia had turned her back to Travis, leaving him with nothing but silence. Travis knew exactly what she needed.

The poochyena's fur stood as she felt Travis wrap his arms around her and bring her to his chest where he hugged her, causing the poochyena's eyes to dilate with his sudden display of emotion toward her again. She didn't deserve this hug!

"Travis! Get off of me!" the pooch cried, swatting his face with her paws instead of her claws, barely harming the young man at all. "Travis! I'll bite you if you don't let me go…!" she threatened, Travis only tightening his hug with her, causing Zia to cry again. "Travis…"

The little hyena had hugged him back, wrapping her paws around his neck as she sniffled, the both of them knowing by now that the pooch wouldn't harm him, not physically or emotionally ever again. Travis was a little surprised, not expecting her to actually hug him back, but he smiled when he saw her fluffy grey tail softly swaying over his legs, and she contently sighed.

Zia wanted another chance, to redeem herself for being such an ass to Travis and her own sister. For now however, she just didn't want Travis to leave her side. She felt safe and secure in his hug, not wanting to be anywhere else. For the first time in her life since what felt like forever ago, Zia had felt truly sane and calm. Just, happiness and relief...with no more hatred or regret.

She knew now that she should have never judged Travis. Every human had a chance to choose their own path in life, whether it be good, evil, or the many lines in between, just like every pokemon. She was prepared to change her own path, seeing that humans and pokemon weren't so different, she figured that late was better than never. The hug that Travis gave her felt much more real than any hug that Zachary ever tried to give her. She could stay like this forever.

"Heh, not gonna lie, Zia. I can't go too much further. I'm too tired…" Travis suddenly mumbled, Zia now shooting her head out from under his own to give him a wild stare as her ears flattened to her skull.

"A-Are you alright, Travis!? Are you going to die!?" the poochyena barked with worry, her paws now on his chest as the boy chuckled at her bold assumption.

"Don't be silly, I just need a good nap. I'm sleepy…" As much as Zia wanted to knock Travis upside the head to shut that stupid chuckle of his, she still found herself worried of losing his attention.

"I don't want you to sleep either… You have to stay up so I can tell you how sorry I am and make it up to you…" Zia said with a frown, Travis now returning the same frown, seeing that she wanted to be serious about this.

"We'll talk about it, Zia. I'm still mad at you, but we're at least on decent terms right now, and that's what counts to me. Stop killing yourself over this stuff, please… It's over." the two finally let go out of their hug as Travis finished. Zia stepped off of his lap and tried to stand up on her own, but something was definitely off to Travis, as she wouldn't set down her left hind paw. "Zia...why are you standing like that…?"

"I didn't notice until recently, but I broke my leg when that bitch rammed me into that dumpster…" the pooch grumbled, reminding Travis that they did indeed just come out of a brutal fight and needed to be patched up before their luck ran out.

"Let's go inside so we can get bandaged…" Travis told her before picking the pooch up again and opening the backdoor, soon walking inside. The door to his mother's room was closed, and they could both hear the snores of T-Mom as she snoozed the night away, none the wiser to any of what was going on, apparently. A stroke of luck for the teenagers as usual…

The duo had crept their way back to Travis' room, the human and poochyena finding Everest now quickly raising her head up from her nap as the smell of blood instantly masked the room. The fox snapped her head toward Travis and Zia, who forced her paws over her mouth to keep herself from screaming as she saw her sister and her best friend with claw marks and blood caking their bodies as if they came back from the dead.

Travis had set Zia on the floor as her sister ran toward her and brought her in her tiny arms, and the both of them cried. "Everest, I'm so sorry for everything… I really am… Please don't leave me again!" whimpered Zia into the vee's scruff, which surprised Everest before she looked toward Travis, asking for an explanation of what the hell happened out there.

Weakly leaning his shoulder against the door, Travis only gave Everest a stupid smirk as he held his thumb up. "Guess you were right after all…" complemented Travis.

Zia and Travis both had briefed Everest in as Travis finished patching himself up after doing Zia first like a gentleman. Now the three were sitting with each other on the floor and preparing to get some sleep before a much needed trip to the hospital.

"God, if that motherfucking absol was still alive I'd be at her throat in a minute…" Everest told the two before a sigh, knowing what was done was done and at least it was over. Travis surely got her good enough. "I wish I would have thought of this possibility earlier, I didn't think something like this would happen…. I can't thank you enough, Travis…" the shiny eevee walked over to the boy and hugged him, still shedding a few tears from earlier, just glad to have the both of her idiots back in one piece as Travis hugged her just the same.

Zia was silent for a while, Travis having done most of the talking up to this point before she looked over to the corner where she always slept, finding his pair of dirty jeans still laying there. The poochyena had walked over to the pair of jeans with no one noticing her, soon picking them up in her maw carefully before walking over to Travis and presenting them to him.

Travis and Everest both stared at the poochyena, who stared into the boy's eyes for a moment before laying the jeans down over his lap and walking over to her corner where she sat in silence, not looking at anyone, bringing an awkward tension back into the room. Everest leaned up to Travis' ear and started to whisper.

"Now that I think about it… I feel like Zia might have found a little comfort in your scent. You may not have noticed, but she can have very vivid nightmares from time to time when she sleeps, so she prefers not to sleep alone. Might be a good time to start making a friend out of her…" The eevee pulled away from his ear with a bright smile, Travis now poking his chin in thought as he weakly stood up from the floor with Everest hopping on the bed.

"Hey, Zia, would you like to sleep with us? I've got plenty of room up here." Travis said, gesturing toward his bed with a pat before the poochyena turned to face him and shook her head.

"No thank you…" she said under her breath, turning back around before Travis smirked at her.

"Well too bad, this is your first step to redemption." Travis walked over to the pooch and scooped her up in his arms again, the pooch squeaking in surprise before Travis flicked the lights out and hopped into the bed with Everest, where he carefully laid Zia between her sister and himself before pulling the sheets over the three of them. Zia looked at Everest, who gave the poocha nod and a smile before kissing her forehead.

"Goodnight, sis." Everest told her with a wink before the pooch looked over to Travis, who also gave her a smile. The pooch couldn't help but give a toothy smile back to him as she settled for cuddling into his chest, where she felt the most safe. It was the most genuine smile the two of them had ever seen come from Zia, and definitely the cutest smile to Travis.

Travis knew that he had a lot of explaining to do to his mother whenever she saw the way how they were bandaged up, but things were finally settling down between Zia and himself. He actually wanted to get up and take another shower just in case, but he knew that Zia wouldn't allow him to get up and leave her now that she seemed so attached to him.

In her heart, Zia knew that she finally felt at home here with Travis and Everest. Here, she finally felt loved by somebody other than her sister…

And she loved him back in a very special way…

* * *

 **AN: Oh, not the ending that you were expecting for a story like this? Huehuehue, that's because I lied. Well, not really, this is in fact a finale, to just the first part of the story that is. So if you didn't get enough of Travis, Zia, and Everest, there's more chapters to come! I originally planned this story to only be about seven chapters long, as some of you may know, but with the direction that the story is headed now, that old path would have been a HUGE mistake. If you guys decide to stick around, I'll reveal my earlier intentions sooner or later. There's gonna be love in the air in the coming chapters, what I assume most of you lot are here for. Apologies for any awkward scenes or if anything seems poorly written, you guys know I'm still a novice but I'm getting better! I'll catch you guys on the next update! Leave me your thoughts!**


	7. Chapter 7: A New Adventure Awaits

**AN: Heya guys, I know it has been a while. I already went through this speech in my other story, but I'll at least say that I promised that chapter 6 wouldn't be the last chapter. I'll end it there since I usually don't do author's notes in this story, but check out the link to my discord server if you guys are interested in hanging out!**

 **So things are looking pretty relaxed in the story right now. Think of this calm chapter as a way of starting up the events of the next arc. Be aware I'll be changing the way the story is told a bit. You'll notice it as you read through. Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 7**

It's been a long-drawn three weeks since Zia and Travis went though hell in that alley, and Zia was finally left to recover in peace. Travis knelt down to the poochyena that was sitting by his side, lifting her hind paw before removing the cast that held her broken leg. Tossing the shell of bandages next to the rest of the wraps he previously torn off, the boy brought a grin to his face. "It's been almost an entire month, but you're looking better than ever before," Travis complimented, the poochyena in question smirking as Everest joined the two. The eevee had been free of her wrappings the day after her sister was constricted by more.

"About time too! Shame to see you walk with a limp in your step for that long, sis!" Everest barked before pulling her sister into a hug. The poochyena grinned back at Travis.

"Same can't be said for him though." Zia nudged her head toward the human male as he grimaced at her. Most of the bruises and cuts on his arms and legs had healed within a week's time, and he would've appeared as if he didn't take a beating from that absol until people pointed out the hunch he carried with his back. "Sit up straight, you know the doctor's gonna get pissed again," the pooch giggled.

Travis held up his shirt and shook his head, his torso mummified with gauze. The boy carried back pain once the damage Dawn did to his back had settled in, leaving him to slouch wherever he goes as a searing pain constantly struck his back. He remembered receiving one hell of a scolding that day from both the doctor _and_ his mother, and one of the many things he was told _not_ to do was hunch absentmindedly until his back was completely better. "Yeah yeah, I guess…" the boy grumbled before straightening his back. He stared up toward the ceiling fan, a few moments passing by without saying another word. Everest frowned at him when he didn't say anything further.

"Something the matter?" Everest asked, her tail tucking between her legs before she approached him.

Zia stared at Travis's eyes, soon becoming mutually silent as well. _What could be his problem all of a sudden? He was all cheeky just a few hours ago._ The poochyena walked past Everest, pausing once she reached the boy in a few steps. She sat next to him, closing her eyes before she sat her paws over his legs. Travis looked at Zia with a frown, and another few minutes of silence went by.

"Well... Now that both of you guys are finally back to yourselves again… Uh…" Travis paused. "This is weird to say… But since you guys are better now, I guess… Sad to say that I should keep that promise I made a month ago to that nurse in the pokemon center. Guess it's time for us to finally split up…" Travis closed his eyes, taking a breath that lasted longer than it should have. When he opened his eyes again, they were revealed bloodshot.

"Oh," was the only thing Everest said, her ears flattening as she realized the situation herself. The vixen sat on her haunches before staring at her paws, shuffling them awkwardly. _I wanted to stay somewhere like this... I probably could just tell him that, but…_ the eevee looked toward Zia, who still didn't bother to respond. The poochyena had yet to move from her spot next to Travis, as if she were hesitant about leaving his side. _They've gotten really close over the month, but Zia wouldn't want to stay here... It's impossible to think that she could change that strong opinion of hers in just a few weeks, she used to downright hate the guy. If she goes back out there, there's no way I could let her leave like that alone. But… God, what is she thinking over there?_

"Hey, let's at least _try_ not to be sad here!" Travis exclaimed, wiping his face with an arm before he grinned again. "Don't be so quiet either, Zia!" The boy picked up the poochyena, sitting her in his lap before wrapping her in a tight hug. Zia didn't attempt to fight him off; after all, everybody knew that over the past few weeks, she would secretly ask him for hugs. The pooch only sat there, her ear and cheek pressed to his chest. "I'll try to come visit wherever you guys go, c'mon. Don't go back to scary Zia, the talkative and proud pooch is much better."

"Travis," the pooch finally said after a few moments, the boy blinking before he looked down to her. The poochyena stared him dead in the eyes again, her big pink nose almost poking his chin before she swatted him with a paw. "I'm gonna tell you something, so clean the crap out of your ear for a second." Everest tilted her head at the sudden display, though she didn't expect her own sister to talk to him any different from what they were used to.

Once the poochyena was sure that her human friend was listening, she genuinely smiled at him. "Travis, I won't lie to you... I like living here. I like having you as a roommate, annoying as you can be sometimes," she stated. Everest's ears perked up as her eyes widened. Travis's eyes had widened a bit as well. "I realized a little later than I should, but I noticed that I didn't have to bite anyone's muzzle off for stealing my food, and Everest won't get separated from me without her say. Those things are pretty important to me." Everest's tail instantly stood straight and wagged from the mention as Travis blushed from her confession.

 _Geez, it almost sounds like she's acting her age,_ the eevee mused with a giggle. _I wonder where she's going with this though._

"Your bed is a hell of a better option than sleeping on that dirt. I know I've been joking about it a lot still, but now that the day's here… It feels weird to just say goodbye after experiencing everything, even if you did keep your promise and visited us." Zia poked the boy's chest as she said this. Travis nodded before setting his hands to the floor, doing his best to not lean back.

"Yeah… It's weird. You guys were the closest things I had to pokemon of my own. Obviously, I think you guys know this, but no matter what happens, you both are still considered my family and nothing less," Travis responded, grinning at Zia and Everest. "But… That just makes it harder to let everything go… By the way, you're saying a lot of things that I never thought I'd hear from you, let alone more than once. Is there something else you're trying to say?"

Zia snickered, covering her mouth with a paw as if to act polite. "I like you, Travis, but you are such an idiot. What I'm _trying_ to hint at is that I want to stay with you, which I know you want too. You're almost to tears," she informed, her giggling dying down as Travis blushed a deeper red. As the boy looked at Everest, he could see the vixen was just as surprised as he was. "You seriously can't tell me after all we've been through that you thought I'd just want to leave. We'd gotten off on the wrong foot, but... These last few weeks have been the best of my life since I started appreciating your company."

Travis's grin tugged his cheeks as far as they could possibly go, causing him to cover his face with a hand. "Zia… You're sounding way too cheesy, this isn't like you," the young man joked, Zia blushing as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm aware of that, but I'm not done. You may be an idiot but I'll admit that I am too. I've gotten myself into situations where I could have been another pokemon's lunch and you continue to pull me out on your shoulders. Really made me sound like a clown when I thought humans were bottom feeders that couldn't amount to anything. I'm still not witty enough to keep myself from getting into those situations, and I hate to say it, but I want your help… Still, you're a human. If that bitch absol was a little more competent and didn't play with her food, we'd probably still be dead. Hurts my pride when I need your help instead of the other way around but that's the thing." Zia paused, taking a breath as she realized what a mouthful she was saying. She knew that she was a mouthy pooch, but never thought she would be pouring out to anyone like this. "Anyway, you still get yourself into dumb spots because of your kindness. I don't want anyone else to take that for granted, so I'm also asking to stay with you because I want to protect you. Over the last few days, I've been thinking about the path that I wanted to take in my life. When I reminded myself of that other night where I thought about the paths everybody can take, I thought that this needs to be mine. Oddly enough, I feel like I can still depend on myself as much as others if I do this too," the poochyena huffed.

Everest smiled at her sister, giving a mental cheer as she now knew she wouldn't have to give up this life to be back in the cruel wild. Travis meanwhile was still grinning at the poochyena. "Heh, Zia… Thanks. You don't know how much that means to me, after everything that's happened…" the boy said, unable to find much else to say as he covered his eyes again and giggled.

"Hey!" Zia barked, instantly catching the boy's eyes once again. "Don't start sobbing around me. Now." The poochyena poked the boy's nose before hopping off of his lap. Travis and Everest both stared at the pooch as she sat in front of him, her smugness never changing. "I need you to catch me in your little pokeball, or whatever you call it. A _real_ pokeball would seal the deal this time."

"Uh… Zia…" the boy stuttered, somewhat flustered despite hearing everything that she told him. "Are you sure that you want me to _catch_ you though? Like… That's a big commitment." Travis shakingly stood to his feet, resting an arm on the nearby wall as he did so.

"You heard me, chump. I know you got a ball around here somewhere. I don't want to mess up your room again to find it myself," the pooch stated with a wink. Travis smiled at the pooch before walking over to his dresser. He quickly bent down to open the bottom drawer while attempting to keep his back straight. He soon pulled out an item that anyone with a trainer's license was familiar with.

 _Sure doesn't look like an out of the ordinary ball…_ the boy thought as he stood up, examining the standard ball that somehow kept its luster after being locked away in that dresser for who knows how long. _I guess I should ignore that, because this ball is gonna belong to a super special person._ Travis finally turned back to meet Zia, who gave a nod as she waited patiently on her haunches.

He tossed the ball at the pooch, his pitch weak from his condition and not quite reaching the target. Zia leaned forward with an open maw to catch the ball in her mouth, the action of making contact itself sending Zia inside of the ball with a flash. After the ball gave an immediate ding, Everest carried the ball in her maw before handing it over to Travis. Taking the ball from the hazel eevee, Travis realized that he finally had his first pokemon, his first trusted companion after eighteen years!

The boy didn't spend long to celebrate the occasion, soon releasing Zia from the ball for a breather. She blinked for a moment, before shaking her fur out and shuddering. "Heh, thanks for not keeping me in there. I appreciate it, but I'm still the boss around here," she quickly spat, turning away from Travis as she stuck her chin high. Everest grinned as she shook her head.

 _I bet she's so proud of herself right now,_ the eevee giggled before Travis scooped Zia up and hugged her again.

"Oh shut up, Zee. You're always gonna be my best friend. I'll make sure that this is the best decision you've ever made…"

* * *

Even a month later, Zia was occupied with staring outside of Travis's window as she found that memory running through her mind again. The poochyena laid her head against the sill. _Can't believe how much things have changed. Still never thought I'd find myself actually wanting to be here._ She chuckled to herself. _Maybe it's for the better, I guess._

Travis was back to his usual shenanigans, whatever those were, the moment his back got better. Zia and Everest became used to seeing the boy run back and forth out of the house as if he had important things to do, the poochyena always dismissing it as him being hyperactive. The poochyena always helped Travis out with the little chores he had around the house whenever she could. She would share meals with him exclusively and do whatever else she could do to stick by his side when he was around.

Zia had been staying inside of the house as she felt it was for her own good, at least for the time being. The pooch didn't want to cause Travis any trouble in the outside world, where she knew there were a bunch of random strangers that she didn't find easy to trust. The only part where she'd imagine he'd be truly threatened was if he went to that bad side of town again or attempted to go out of the city. The pooch would stick to him like glue if she were to find out he went there. Despite this seemingly smart decision being made, Zia knew that being stuck in the house all of the time was becoming a damn bore.

 _Y'know, for considering me his best friend, for whatever reason that is..._ the pooch grumbled in her thoughts. _We sure don't do a lot outside of here to show it, I guess. All because of my insecurities. I really gotta get over it. I've been here for two months, surely just trying a day wouldn't hurt. I suppose I should ask to hang out with him when he gets back._

The poochyena had set her paws on the sill to busy herself with having something to look at when the sound of familiar footsteps reached her ears. Without yelling all the time, Zia noticed that her hearing became significantly better. "Morning, Zia! What are you doing over here by yourself?" Everest asked, padding over to her sister before also putting her paws on the sill. The poochyena smiled, though didn't turn toward her.

"I dunno. Just relaxing I suppose," the pooch answered. _I love Everest, but I really should try and lose her when I talk to Travis. She's going to make it awkward whenever she wants to fluster me_ , she mused, not willing to completely admit to herself that she didn't want the eevee getting between Travis's and her relationship. The eevee nodded with a playful grin on her muzzle.

"Whatever you say. Your best friend left us breakfast before he left, better come eat it before I do," Everest teased before releasing her paws from the sill and exiting the room with a sway of her hips. Zia rolled her eyes.

"Sassy as always," she mumbled. Despite being a little annoyed from her sister, she could only grin as she realized Everest was in a much better mood these days. She had always been a peppy eevee, but ever since the two came to a mutual understanding of each other, Everest and Zia were always able to relax together. They hadn't argued nearly as much anymore, and the two could enjoy each other's company in peace. With a grin, the poochyena finally made for the door. "I'm still not bringing her with me..."

It had been a long five hours until Travis finally returned home, though it was usually worth the wait for the poochyena. Now that the trio were together again, they were all in the boy's room doing various activities on the bed. While Everest had busied herself watching her shows on the television, Travis was taking it easy as he read a book. Zia laid on the bed next to the boy as she looked to be sleeping with a frown on her face.

 _Well_ _ **this**_ _isn't going the way I wanted it to._ While Travis was there in the flesh for her to chat with, there was still something about the poochyena's current situation that she considered a problem. Zia opened an eye to look at Everest, the hazel eevee giggling at something that was happening on the show. Zia had never took interest in the television, so it was only natural that she wouldn't understand her amusement. _I regret not asking him the moment he got here. At least she was still asleep. I can't take another day in this house without at least a promise of going outside though… I'm going to go insane if I don't stretch my legs out or something._

"Uuuuggggghhhhh…" Zia groaned as she finally picked her head up.

"Uh… You doing alright, Zee? Hmm… Now that I think about it, you've been sleeping a lot lately," said Travis, looking toward the poochyena as her sister did the same. Zia nodded to the boy, her expression neutral.

"I'm fine. I just want to tell you something," the pooch answered, her voice lowering with each word as Everest tilted her head. Zia mentally groaned, knowing that the eevee would start asking a lot of questions if she tried to take him somewhere more private. She decided to spit it out now rather than get her even more interested.

"What is it?" Travis asked, sliding his book to the side before sitting up.

"Can the two of us hang out sometime? As in...out of the house? It's boring as hell being in here all of the time, and I'd...like to get closer to you, I guess. I feel like I'm finally ready to try being around people too," Zia admitted, darting her eyes away from the boy.

"Why do you want to be with him alone?" Everest asked with a smirk. Travis withheld what he planned to say as Zia narrowed her gaze in the eevee's direction. "You two have a secret that you're not telling me I bet." Everest winked to the pooch as Travis held his gut with a snicker, Zia's reaction adding to the amusement.

"No," she spat with a blush as Travis rolled his eyes.

"Heh, I think I understand without Everest's joke, so you're fine." Travis's chuckles finally died down. "Seriously though, I'm down for it if you are. I'm actually pretty excited! No hard feelings about it, right Everest?"

The eevee grinned as she shooed the two with a paw. "You two do your thing. I'm happy that you guys are hanging out so much. It's way easier to take naps with the quiet anyway," Everest reassured before Travis hopped off of the bed to sit at his desk. As he started to scribble in that familiar journal, Everest looked to Zia with a smile. "Mind if I pull ya for a sec?"

Zia raised a brow to the vixen who nudged her head in the direction of the door before the twins hopped off of the bed. The duo walked just a few feet out from Travis's room and sat in front of one another. "What is it?" Zia asked.

The eevee's ears flattened as her tail wrapped around her legs. "Nothing exactly _bad_. I just noticed that you've been taking an interest in getting over your fears, and-"

"It isn't a fear," the poochyena butted in, pushing her black paw to the eevee's tiny snoot. There was a moment of silence, before both of them started giggling. Zia had admitted to herself a while ago that she had a 'cautious' nature around human beings that everybody in the house had noticed, though she still would rather still call it hatred so she could sound more independent and tough. "Now what were you saying?"

"Whatever, but you get it. I wanted to ask something, serious question." Zia's smile disappeared, staring at the eevee as her tail flickered in anticipation. "So. Is… Is _he_ still on your mind? Zachary, I mean…?" The poochyena grimaced the minute she heard the name, and her legs trembled as if they would give out from under her. Zia shook her head and turned away from Everest, putting a paw on the wall as she tried to hold herself together.

"It gets worse each time it's brought up. _Yeah_ , I've been trying to get over it but I'd rather just forget any of that stuff ever happened. He's supposedly dead to me but I still try too hard to keep myself under control whenever he's mentioned…" Zia sighed, Everest frowning as she saw another tear come from her eye. "I don't want to compare him to Travis again. I trust him, and I'd rather keep it like that." Zia took another deep breath, the two silent for a few moments before the poochyena grinned. "Besides, that offer is still open to headbutt him in the gut if he does anything dumb."

"You _still_ remember that? You aren't going to do it if he does, right?"

"Nah. Travis won't do anything stupid enough for me to do that anyway. Either way, he's still gonna do a lot of goofy things. I'm looking forward to being amused at least," Zia confirmed with a shrug as her sister giggled.

"I don't think you'll ever change much, but you sure are getting good at being positive. I admire it." Everest smiled before stepping forward and nuzzling her sister. The poochyena pushed her muzzle away, sticking out her tongue with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry yourself about it. I'll be fine." Everest nodded to the poochyena's words, leaving her with a grin before returning to the room. Zia lingered in the hall for a little longer, her smile soon disappearing just as her sister did.

 _She keeps making me think about it… I…_ The poochyena paused her thoughts. _Maybe I_ _ **do**_ _need some closure with this… Or I should…_ Zia shook her head, bringing a paw to her snout as she took a breather. "No. I need to get over it. Thinking about it won't do me any good with the day I have going for me tomorrow…" Zia forced her thoughts down her throat, finally returning into the room so no one would ask her anymore awkward questions…

* * *

"Ugnmmm," Zia muttered, her eyes still closed from her nap as she felt her surroundings. The poochyena was still on the bed where she had fallen asleep, and she looked over to the digital clock at sat on the dresser. _6:27 am? Finally. Morning time…_ she mused, though there was yet to be a sun to confirm that. Anticipation had gotten the better of the ash-gray dog, constantly waking her up time and time again through the night. The pooch had her own unwanted methods to make her good at going with little sleep, so it didn't bother her in the end.

The poochyena looked around the bed as her ear flickered. _Where's Travis?_ She placed a paw to where he was previously sleeping, remembering how fond she was of laying her head over him as he slept. _That dude is a fucking ninja. It's no wonder I kept running into him at first._ Zia peeked to the other side of the bed, finding Everest still asleep. With a flick of her tail, the poochyena inched her body to the edge of the bed, soon sliding herself off and letting her paws hit the floor without a sound. _Guess today's a lucky day where I didn't wake her up with my 'snoring'._

Creeping out of the room into the hallway, Zia noticed that there was only one room lit in the house. The kitchen being her new destination, the poochyena was glad to find Travis inside making breakfast. It was tough to _not_ see him as a housewife with how he cooked for them almost everyday now.

With the wonderful scent of breakfast reaching her nostrils, Zia grinned before she hopped into an empty chair in the dining room. "Make it snappy, because I'm ready to go," Zia commanded, the boy grinning at the pooch as he whipped out the paper plates. "So hey, what are we even going to be doing anyway? I've never done this thing before and I think it might be better to have an idea, y'know?"

"Since you call this place home now, I thought I could just give you a tour of Olivine City. Seems pretty simple and all since it'll be your first time out in public, right?" Travis asked before finally bringing the last of the bacon to the final plate, making for a total of four. He carried a plate over to Zia and set it on the table, where the ravenous pooch immediately scarfed down the entire breakfast. A piece of toast, three eggs and four strips of bacon were gone in just under a minute. Meanwhile, Travis had barely went into his eggs. "Hm. I know you're big on eating but I've _never_ seen you eat that fast before," he chuckled, Zia poking at her snoot.

"My jaws are kinda meant for that," the pooch said with a giggle before hopping down from her seat. "Now hurry up so we can get out of here already!" Travis set his plate down and laughed.

"Geez, what's gotten stuck in your foot today? You're in such a rush," he chuckled. "I should at least tell Everest that food's done first. Mom won't be up for another hour or so... I should put her plate in the fridge now that I think about it…" the boy trailed off, his poochyena companion rolling her eyes.

"You're too damn slow for me, Travis. I'll go tell her myself," Zia huffed, trotting back into the hallway as Travis grinned at her, rolling his eyes just the same.

Once the poochyena made it to Travis's room, she instantly targeted where Everest was still sleeping before hitting the mattress with her paw a few times. With the bed's shake, the eevee slowly opened her eyes as a groggy yawn escaped her throat. Barely able to keep her eyes open for long, the exhausted eevee turned to the pooch. "Oh hey, Zia… What's-"

"No time for it. Just telling you that Travis and I are leaving and that your breakfast is ready. See ya and have a nice nap." The poochyena stood on her rear paws so she could reach the mattress, giving Everest a quick lick on the cheek before leaving as hasty as she came. Everest had stared at her fleeing sister until she disappeared out of sight, the eevee blinking a few times before resting her head back on her paws.

"All day nap here I come," the eevee told herself with a grin, her ears flattening as she fell back asleep…

* * *

Olivine City's size was enough to strike fear into any introvert, and Zia wasn't any different. It hadn't been more than ten minutes since the pooch and Travis finally hit the town where Zia's attention had been taken by the many tall buildings, a few of them being much taller than others. "I'll admit that I'm a little surprised," Zia spoke up as the two strolled on the sidewalk. "I thought there'd be a lot more people in a place this big, but it's quiet. Almost boring in a way, but I can't say I don't like the peace either."

Travis nodded, noticing that the concrete beneath them was soon turning into the familiar wood of the pier that wasn't far from where they lived. Travis loved the atmosphere that the sea gave to Olivine, and the sun rising over the water's horizon made it a beautiful sight. "Early mornings would be like this for almost any town in Johto, at least I'd like to think so. Olivine is a pretty sleepy place all together though, so this is normal," Travis admitted with a chuckle.

Reaching the edge of the pier, Travis sat down, letting his feet dangle over the water. He turned to Zia with a smile, patting a spot next to him. "C'mon!"

Zia hesitated for a moment. "'Kay." The poochyena stepped forward and sat next to him. She looked over their shoulders before laying down, allowing her fore paws to linger over the pier's edge.

"I used to fish here with my brother all the time on the weekends. He didn't do it often without me, but I can say that was one of the things he was best at." Zia looked at Travis with a frown with the mention of his brother, but saw that the guy was staring into the horizon with a smile as he kicked his feet. It was odd to see him smile about the subject after the disrespect she showed to his family a month back, but the pooch was still glad to be forgiven. "It's a little weird that this is the only town in Johto where fishing is considered a sport. I mean, just look at all of that water out there!" Travis motioned his hand to the sea. "I remember when I was younger, one of the fishing competitions had more than half of the town participating, and almost everybody else including my family would be by the pier like this as we watched. We usually got a whole bunch of boats down here for the fishers to fish from, and some of the catches were outright insane."

"That sounds really lame," the pooch finally responded. She soon turned to a grinning Travis, but her eyes remained on the water. "You, uh… You wanna go fishing sometime?" Zia's paws rubbed against the floor beneath them as her friend's eyes lit up.

"You kidding me!? It's a date!" Travis laughed with a wink as Zia glared at him, a blush somehow visible through her black fur.

"Very funny."

"Oh c'mon, don't be like that. I'd love to take you one day, serious this time," Travis admitted, his chuckles dying down as Zia smiled at him.

"I know. Thanks," the pooch said with a chuckle of her own.

"C'mon, let's head somewhere else." Travis rolled away from the pier's edge and stood on his feet. Zia was able to do the same without the theatrics that the boy showed.

The two soon left the pier side by side, though Travis eventually realized he didn't have anywhere specific to take Zia. The duo had walked around aimlessly as the sun came to greet Olivine City, and the activity of the locals steadily increased. Travis had been taking Zia to some of the places of his childhood, such as the theater, the beach and the town's gym being a few of them. The beach happened to be the last of the places that Travis showed Zia, where the poochyena enjoyed the warm sand beneath her paws and made her interest in spending a day there with Travis, Everest and Brendan clear.

Zia and Travis finally left the beach, the latter trying to figure out another place to take the pooch before looking at his watch. "Geez, can't believe we've been there for two hours when all we did was sit around the entire time. On top of that, it's almost ten thirty. Yikes," the man laughed, his faithful partner shrugging.

"Meh, I liked the sunlight but I never liked being wet. We still got a long day ahead," the pooch replied, her ears twitching before she whipped her head to look behind them as if a phantom were about to attack them. Travis, noticing her change in direction, also looked behind him and noticed an older man approaching the two. The boy's eyes darted toward Zia, who became a statue as the man continued to approach them.

"Hey, uh…" The man seemed troubled, which could be told with the wrinkles that appeared under his eyes. He wasn't exactly dressed for anything that he should be in a hurry for either, with his average v-neck tee and baggy jeans. "You mind giving me some directions to the…" the man paused, pulling out his PokeNav. "'Oli-Meet' building? I just got to Olivine City and I swear I am absolutely pants with directi-" The man paused, a snarl reaching his ears that immediately yanked his attention to the younger man's pooch.

Travis gritted his teeth as he knew that was Zia's snarl. The poochyena's fur stood up as she inched closer to the man, who instinctively stepped back. "You're getting a little too close. I advise you back up before I-" Travis knelt down and quickly brought his hands over the poochyena's mouth despite the clear danger of him getting his hands torn off. This luckily surprised Zia enough to make her stop, and Travis knew she wouldn't do anything with those teeth if he was in the way.

With a nervous grin, Travis quickly released one hand while pointing to the northeast. "Keep going north from here and you should find it somewhere around where the gym is. S-Sorry about that." The man simply nodded to him, inching around the boy and his poochyena before dashing into the deeper city like a speeding bullet. Zia's ears flattened when she looked at Travis, who frowned at her.

"I can't believe you _still_ do that after two months. I mean… Hm. I guess you haven't really had a chance to get used to people either…" Travis said, the poochyena swatting away his remaining hand with her paw.

"Yeah, well not everybody is worth trusting, as you should well know by now," retorted Zia, her tone clearly irritated. Travis couldn't help cracking a grin at her.

"It's cool how you try and look out for us, but _you_ well know that's what started problems way back when. You don't _have_ to trust everybody, but don't outright threaten everybody either. Besides, I remember hearing a saying that being too cautious doesn't let you notice your true enemies. It went something like that," he informed, Zia becoming silent before she glared at the ground.

"Probably," she huffed. "This isn't exactly easy for me, y'know?" Zia's tail flickered as she pointed her claws to the boy.

"I know. I know. Still, I don't want to treat you like a cave dweller and offer you food as an incentive. Make me do anything but that," the boy said with a chuckle as Zia raised a brow at him.

"To be fair, anybody can be bribed with a meal considering the food is good enough for their tastes," the pooch informed, Travis's laughter completely stopping.

"...Okay. You're actually right about that." Now the poochyena was the one laughing.

"Anyway, I _could_ go for another bite," Zia told him, sitting on her haunches before looking down at her stomach. "Damn thing's been rumbling for about an hour now." The poochyena chuckled again as Travis blinked at her.

"Seriously? How are you _still_ hungry? Hmm…" Travis leaned against one of the nearby rails before pulling out his PokeNav, taking a few minutes to scroll through it before he shut it back down. Putting the device back into his pocket, the boy grinned at the pooch. "That's fine with me though. I still have some spare money, so we can go to the Olivine Cafe if you're interested. It shouldn't be far from here."

With a lick of her chops, the poochyena nodded to him. "I'm down for anything if food's involved. Let's go." It didn't take another word for Travis and Zia to continue toward their next destination, the poochyena looking over the horizons of the city all the while. There were two _very_ tall towers that Zia noticed that they hadn't see yet, and she nudged Travis's knee as they walked.

"What are those two buildings?" Zia asked once she had gotten Travis's attention, pointing to the two towers. "We haven't been to those places unless I missed something."

Travis looked toward the first tower she pointed too over to the west of town. "Oh that place isn't even in the city, though it's still pretty darn close. That's the Battle Tower. It's a place where pokemon and their trainers from all over the region go to duke it out in battles, as that name implies. It's usually those that participate in the gym challenge, but they accept any skill level, and they'll rank trainers based on where their pokemon stand in strength."

Zia gave her trademarked cocky smirk at the boy's words, something that usually made Travis scared. "That sounds like a good place to burn off some steam. When are we gonna go?" She turned toward Travis, who shook his head.

"Eh… Not a good idea right now. I should remind you that I've never been in a battle myself, since I didn't have a pokemon before you. On top of that, the only thing I know you can do in battle is use dark pulse. I have knowledge on pokemon stats and whatnot but it only goes so far if you know how to use it in the field. I really don't want to be responsible for you getting a beating because I don't know what I'm doing," Travis said with a frown.

"Well… What if I taught you what I know about battling? I can teach you about all of my moves and how they work better than that gizmo you keep in your pocket," Zia said with enthusiasm in her tone as Travis tilted his head at her.

"What you know about battling? As in…? Have you been in an official battle before, Zia?" Travis asked, his poochyena companion stopping in her tracks.

 _Shit._ Travis stopped as well, still frowning at the pooch as he waited for an answer. "N-No. I've battled in the wild though, I'm sure you knew that. I've won my fair share of fights before."

Travis giggled. "Well, official battles work differently than wild battles. I'll tell you about them later, and I'll try to go there with you someday since you're so eager. Anyway," Travis paused, pointing over to the lighthouse that they've no doubt passed a couple of times, especially when they've stopped by the beach.

"That's Glitter Lighthouse, what most people call Olivine's pride and joy. There isn't much to say about it beside the fact that it's a lighthouse, so it's reason for being in a city like this is self explanatory. You do know what lighthouses are for, right?" Travis asked, the poochyena giving him a nod. "Anyway, it sure has a great view. I wanted to take you there later tonight, y'know…" The boy blushed with a grin. "If that's okay with you. It's why I didn't say anything until you asked."

The poochyena smirked at him, raising her brow. "Sure. I'll look forward to it. Now where's this cafe you were yapping about?"

* * *

Zia and Travis had been at the cafe for almost half an hour, and the poochyena's shift in demeanor once they got there was too noticeable for Travis to ignore. The boy decided to pick a small booth in the corner of the small restaurant where the two sat beside one another, Zia preferring the window seat for more reasons than the view.

The pooch had a slouch in her back as she clicked her claws against the table, Travis watching her eyes dart toward every person and even pokemon that came within a ten foot radius of them. The boy had been doing a great job of keeping her occupied whenever waiters would come toward their table with talking to her about all of the times he went to the cafe as a child, which wasn't too often because of his mom's love of cooking. Zia was doing a little better from their earlier situation, but Travis was starting to feel as if he did the pooch a misdeed by bringing her here. _Almost reminds me of the time I first brought her back home,_ he thought, placing another cut of his porkchop in his mouth.

Travis watched the pooch again, noticing that she was eating notably slower than she was this morning. _She must really have it bad to lose her appetite that much._ Her eyes were still trained on whoever dared come near them as she ate, but she was starting to look more at Travis while doing so. Every time she looked at him, her ears would flatten. She would eventually stop eating, looking down at her plate before looking at him again.

"We're really not getting anywhere from this," she told him before sitting up. "Keep talking like you were doing before instead of staring. I'm going to die of boredom." Zia frowned at Travis as the lad laid an arm on the table, still silent as he looked toward the ceiling.

"Hmm… Well, something's been on my mind for the last few weeks. Don't think this is the right time to talk about it though," Travis admitted, looking back towards Zia. The pooch raised her brows at him, tilting her head just as the boy expected. "I'm trying to think of something else."

"What do you mean by that? There isn't a _wrong_ time to talk to me, Travis. Just lay it on me already, I'm sure it's something silly anyway." The poochyena chuckled, though she found herself disappointed when Travis didn't follow her lead. He stared at his plate again as he kicked his feet against the table.

"It's, hmm…" Zia's ears flattened again when she noticed the drop in Travis's tone. Her muscles became weak from anticipation, and she felt herself hunch once more. "It was around those first few days you guys were staying with me. I asked Everest a few personal questions while you were asleep. One of those being how you came to despise humans."

Zia's ears pointed back up, though she still frowned at the boy as her eyes dilated. "What did you hear?"

"Nothing more than one side. I'll just say Everest told me her story, so we don't need to talk about it since she's over it already. There's apparently something...a lot more personal that you've still kept to yourself though. That isn't a problem, and it's not really any of my business either… But I've just been so curious about it lately…"

Zia grimaced from his words before she averted her gaze. She suddenly became quiet, and anyone able to see her skin could've said she became pale. Her paws were still on the table, and a tiny screech could be heard when her claws dug into the table. Travis's heart sunk when he saw the poochyena beginning to shake, and he feared he may have gone too far.

"Hey, Zee." The boy grabbed her shivering paws, pulling the pooch so that she faced him. He could see that Zia's eyes were bloodshot when she looked up at him, but her shaking soon stopped. "It'd probably be best to get outta here if we're already done eating, yeah?" The poochyena looked over to her half-eaten plate before looking back at Travis.

"Probably best if we do. Uh… Can we still go to that lighthouse later? I feel like I need the trip more than ever now." The poochyena grinned sheepishly, her head sinking into her shoulders as she stared at the boy's hands.

"I was hoping you were still willing!" Travis barked, shaking her paws rhythmically with a grin. "You have no idea how excited I am, seriously. I'll try to make it as memorable as possible!" Zia nodded, still keeping her gaze on the boy's hands for a moment before looking back up to him. Paying attention to the pooch's gaze, the boy's face reddened before putting her paws back on the table. "S-Sorry-"

Zia blinked at Travis for a moment, before shrugging and hoping over the table, hitting the floor on her paws right after. "You're fine, you doof. Now let's get out of here already," the pooch commanded before she headed off for the door. Travis hesitated for a few seconds, but soon quickly followed her before she could turn around and notice...

The poochyena was back on the bed of her home later that afternoon, laying exposed on her back as Everest sat beside her. The eevee had finished her nap a while ago, and was currently back to watching her shows as Travis apparently ran out of the house to run some errands. Zia's snoot wriggled, her face scrunching as if she caught a stench.

 _Unbelievable. Zachary won't ever stop tormenting me. It's been almost a year since we went separate ways, and I still can't let it go…_ The poochyena opened her eyes and looked down to her paws with a sigh. _The nightmares haven't been around as much, but they're still there... Travis already noticed that too, no doubt, and now he knows something's bugging me. I keep giving away signs, and I don't want to keep this from him forever all the same. Still… Why won't I stop thinking about it? Why do I hold on to these memories as if there's a way to redeem it? It's ruining my life all over again…_

The poochyena brought her paws over her snout, shuffling a bit though not making a sound. She peeked toward Everest, who was still completely captivated with whatever she was watching. _Still… I guess it all eventually brought us here, where we both have somewhere good to stay. I can't keep hiding this secret from Travis, so maybe it_ _ **is**_ _better to just say something and get this off my chest. I have to trust him. He wouldn't try and hurt me the moment that I'm vulnerable like Zachary did…_

Zia closed her eyes again. _I want to find closure too… I_ _ **need**_ _to do it. One day, I'm going back to Mahogany Town and getting this out of my head once and for all. I'll tell Travis tonight, and I'm still going back whether he wants me to or not. Whatever happens, happens._ Zia rolled to her belly before looking at the window, noticing that the sun was getting ready to fall. Despite her current stress, the poochyena still found a reason to grin for the upcoming night… _I know they'll understand…_


End file.
